Sapphire Empress
by TimeForced
Summary: Few fourteen year old children manage to conquer a city of a million people in a bloodless coup. What happens when the girl who subdued the Impenetrable City is born a slave to the most infamous Dark Lord to have ever lived?


Writings of Gandalf

June 24, T.A. 3010

Musing upon the Empire of the Sun and the State of the World

* * *

It appears that it once more falls to me to separate the truth from the lies, and ferret out the story of Sauron's bitterest foe, and the most controversial of the Free People of Middle Earth. I've managed to get ahold of this unofficial court history, which was intended to be taught in schools across the Empire.

The writer of this particular introductory piece believed strongly that the pen must bleed no more than truth onto the parchment which it marks, though he had a bit of a powerful patriotic streak. Alas, no amount of glorification could save him or his work from the dreadful facts which he anchored it upon, and so both were terminated.

Luckily, this particular copy was not quite up to the author's standards and so was never presented nor even stored at his home.

Ah. I digress.

Here, is a history of the birth of the Empire of the Sun.

* * *

Glory be to the Empire of the Sun, and all of its children.

This, here, is the tale of our great founder, the wondrous First Empress, Daughter of Fire, Child of Dragons, the Sapphire Jewel, the first firebender: Azula.

(It was one of this writer's great faults that he commonly referred to Azula by her name rather than a title. He believed that her humble origins and widespread association with the least of the Empire meant that she condoned being named casually. He was very wrong.)

Our saviour was, at birth, the daughter of slaves along the coast of the Sea of Nurnen. At a young age, she was made to toil long and hard days upon the sparse farmlands in order to feed the growing might of the Shadow.

Sauron, the Blasted One, had yet to discard his cowardice and step from the concealing shade of the trees of Mirkwood, yet his foul Servants the Nazgul toiled away to rebuild their fell lands.

And the most important piece of any empire is of course the food which keeps workers and soldiers on their feet.

Many were kidnapped, from East, West, North, and South. It is not known how Azula's birth parents ended up in Nurn, nor whom they were or why they would birth such an extraordinary woman, but they died early in the harsh camps of the slave-tilled fields.

(I have found-through conversations with Zuko, Azula's grandson and current Lord Marshall of the Ember Lands southeast of Mordor-that Azula's parents protected her from the worst realities of slaves taken in war by Mordor, and that they died when they attempted to prevent her from being sold for her affinity with fire.

(According to him, Azula was confined to their small hut for the first five years of her life, forbidden to leave. On her fifth birthday, when her firebending lit, she escaped the house but burnt it to the ground. Her flight was interrupted by an orc slave master, who chained her to drag her off to be with the other pretty young girls. Fortunately for all, her mother caught up with them and convinced the orc that Azula was actually a young boy, after which the orc insisted that Azula serve with the other boys in the field work. Azula's mother and father made her promise to hide her firebending and then had her aid them in rebuilding their shelter. The ruse continued successfully for four years until a moment of panic had Azula outed for her unique ability. Her mother and father died when they fought back in an attempt to help Azula escape.)

Azula herself discovered her abilities at a young age, but it was to be, at first, to her detriment. Her singular talent and connection to fire was a great curiosity, and the slavers of Umbar, our wonderous Capital before it was renamed, paid a high price to have her as a gladiator in their slave arenas far to the south of Nurn.

It was here, at the tender age of nine, that Azula made a name for herself as the Fire Drake. Against opponents far older and stronger, even wild beasts such as Black Tigers and Bears, Azula fought and consistently won. And, as befitting her regal nature, she refused to use her sacred flames if the foe was not worthy. For five years she survived against all comers, rising to the top of the arenas in the then piratical city.

But, unbeknownst to her greedy and pompous owners, Azula was preparing for her rightful rise and fiery retribution. Under the noses of the conceited corsairs, slavers, and criminal lords, Azula built a network of supporters in her fellow common folk of Umbar.

(Again from my conversations with Zuko, I learned that Azula had originally been the personal slave of a particularly...distasteful noble with his hands in many different pies. After the man discovered her gender, his attempts to make use her after her matches were, apparently, only staved off by her own viciousness and the work of a few slave guards that went on to become her personal Royal Guard. It seems that they endured their Master's displeasure in order to let her hide whenever he asked them to search for her.)

Along with this growing army, Azula practiced her art until she achieved her famed blue flames and control over lightning, which she carefully concealed from those above her. Finally, at the age of 14, Azula slew many of the corrupt city officials and drove off or executed most of the corsairs whom based themselves in the city. Those who supported her Baozin Revolution were given power such that the restructuring of the city, which Azula officially renamed as Capital City in anticipation of her soon to be great Empire, could proceed apace and with great justice. For four years the city underwent a great revival, as all of the newly freed and empowered citizens joined in the drive and growth of the small land. As if a pure flame had taken hold of the heart of the citizens, the old institutions and buildings were burnt away so that new life could take root in the fertile ashes. The buildings of the city, from the richest districts to the poorest ghettos, were rebuilt with white stone walls, red wood, and gold trimming. The pillar built by the Numenorians of old was redesigned, the jewel at its peak being given two mirrors of burnished gold and purest silver that spun about and shone the light of the sun and moon as a beacon for ships, while a housing of red pillars and clay tiles sheltered a spiral staircase that led to the top of the newly renamed Sun Temple.

It was during this time that Azula's most famous and loyal servants, the Dai Li, received training in their distinctive, paralytic fighting style and the clandestine skills that make them instrumental even today in shedding light upon the ever encroaching Shadow of Sauron.

(Azula, in fact, learned a bit of this style from a friend of hers when she was a young child and proceeded to further develop it for use in the arena so that she wouldn't, as Zuko quoted to me, 'Give those fat, money-grubbing parasites the honor of seeing my beautiful flames.')

Similarly, the Royal University and National Academies were started at this time, to bring enlightenment to the newborn People of the Sun and to encourage the first of many technological marvels which Azula herself helped to design. A city which had been, for thousands of years, little more than a den of thieves and their bloated masters became a luminous, golden star upon the coast that promised to spread its glories far into the East and South.

But first, Azula had to have heirs. More importantly, she had to have many heirs in order to spread the life and light of firebending amongst her people. Young as she was, only 18 at the time she realized this, Azula had already decided that she had to not only secure her people, but provide them with a shining example to lead them into the future. And, as the greatest leader of the Age, she would accept nothing less than the best.

Her heirs would be birthed stronger and better, and to do that she needed a worthy consort, one befitting of her beauty and status.

And so, leaving the fledgling Dai Li in charge of the small Empire of the Sun, Azula ventured north in search of the fabled Elves, who had long hidden from the eyes of Men.

(And for good reason! As we shall see.)

For a year, Azula disappeared. Few indeed know the full extent of her ventures, but the most famous of her exploits is widely trumpeted throughout the Empire: the Burning of the Court of the Necromancer.

As any good child can tell you, the Shadow long hid under the eaves of Mirkwood, afraid of the mighty flame which smoldered within the hearts of Men. Azula, in her northward trek, shied away from no shadow or threat. When rumors of the mighty fortress Dol Guldur reached her ears, Azula immediately recognized the handywork of the darkness which wished to dominate men.

Scaling the black walls and searching the shadowy corridors, Azula found the cold throne room of the one known as the Necromancer.

Observing the Necromancer at the head of his hall, she stepped forth from the shadows and announced her presence with sapphire flames, and challenged the identity of the dark thing upon the icy throne at the heart of the fortress.

Curious of this woman who controlled fire, the Necromancer named himself as the Sorceror and bid her to introduce herself. Our brave founder stood tall and announced herself as the Empress of the Sun. The Sorceror, seeing himself as clever and believing that he could bend Azula to his will, asked her if she had come to forge an allegiance. Azula, laughing at the arrogant gesture, said no and threw out a great blast of blue flame that engulfed the throne room. She named him Sauron, the Great Enemy, and declared her intention to wipe him from the face of the earth for his crimes.

(I cannot determine the veracity of this claim, for if she had indeed caught on to and confronted Sauron, Azula would been the only one of the time to confirm the Necromancer for who he was. This particular account of the 'Burning of the Necromancer's Court,' long a popular story about Azula, is unique in its naming of Sauron as the Necromancer's identity.)

Sauron, furious, attacked and the two fought a battle which demolished the court and set flame to much of Dol Guldur. But, cowardly as he always had been, Sauron drew to himself his legions and threw them at Azula. Skilled and brilliant, Azula slipped away from the endless hordes attempting to capture her and resumed her search for the Elves.

Finally, after more trials and ceaseless searching, Azula came upon the hidden Kingdom of Thranduil, home of the Elves of Mirkwood.

(Indeed, she came with an army of orcs and spiders at her back. She used the confusion of the sudden war to slip in and out of the Halls of Thranduil without even being detected. Azula was an incredibly devious infiltrator. I have yet to determine if she deliberately provoked Sauron to lead his hunters North or if she was merely an opportunist.)

There, within the caves of the ancient Elven Realm, Azula found a worthy consort: Prince and Heir to the King, the elf Legolas.

(Many of Zuko's tales were corroborated by Legolas when I spoke with him, but he has always been tight-lipped about his time in the company of Azula.)

Long had Legolas remained with his Father, constrained by duty to the vast forest and ever threatened by the Shadow that had taken hold of Mirkwood yet unable to strike back. Azula, coming before him as a woman more glorious and beautiful than any other, held out her hand and invited him to join her in scouring Sauron from the earth. Captivated, Legolas joined her and the two slipped away south, intent on leading the Empire without the interference of Thranduil.

(I have always found the attitude of Azula with regards to slavery and prisoners to be quite interesting. She personally outlawed slavery, preferring to have her people follow willingly through a combination of information control and selective freedoms. However, the taking of war prisoners she regarded as an honor of sorts. The prevailing notion among her people seems to be that the 'uncivilized barbarians' should be grateful for the opportunity to be civilized. And they are, for they become indentured servants for a period of seven years before being given homes on the frontiers of the Empire. Legolas did not go willingly with Azula, and he was only the first of the elves taken by Azula. Azula and her children did however treat them well, if you discount what amounts to rape through political marriage by force.)

Upon her return, Azula found the Empire besieged by the Black Corsairs, who had based themselves to the south on the isles of Tol Uialgaer when they fled her wrath five years before.

Determining that the force was far to large for her army, Azula persuaded a Captain of Gondor named Eradan to lead his small fleet to the Capital City, providing the final pieces necessary for Azula to rout the Corsairs and their Southern allies despite their far greater numbers. The glories of that battle are not to be told here, for a full recounting of the First Capital Expedition fills entire books, but this first military victory of the Empire proved that the reorganization of the military was effective and served as the first example of the Sun Empresses' strategic and tactical genius.

Impressed by Azula's leadership, Eradan consulted with the Steward Boromir and recognized the Empire of the Sun as an allied state of Gondor. This marked the beginning of a long period of growth and trade, as the Capital City and the surrounding lands were secured and developed.

Azula had her first child Zin Shu in T.A. 2485, six months after her return to Capital City. Bearing golden hair and eyes, he was well loved by the people of the Empire. Most stories of Azula's dedication to training include accounts of her drilling the small forces of Capital City with her infant son watching from nearby.

(I have never discerned the true nature of Azula's descendants. Historical precedent should name the Half-elves, with the choice of either the Gift of Men or the immortality of Elves; yet, it seems that they have been made similar to the Men of Numenor. Though I never received any confirmation from the Valar, it is my belief that as punishment for Azula's forcible taking of elven blood her children were all reduced to men, rather than the immortality that Azula sought.)

In T.A. 2487, after the birth of her second son Sozin, Azula gave command of the city to the War Minister Sanghyand and marched inland with a sizeable force. For six years she campaigned throughout Harad, capturing villages and gaining the submission of the nomadic Haradrim. She took Legolas and her sons with her and gave birth twice during the wars, taking 3 month leaves from the frontline to ensure her children, a daughter and another son, survived birth.

(It was about this time that I personally became curious of this new Empire, though I had yet to travel there. I was busy in the North with Orcs reentering the Misty Mountains, but I certainly heard tell of the uproar in Mirkwood and the new ally of Gondor.)

The tales of the Empress spread like wildfire throughout the southlands, and many towns welcomed her coming. Despite the near-constant fighting, her force tripled in size by the time she returned to Capital City with the spoils of war and the reins of a true Empire.

For another seven years Azula spread knowledge and built infrastructure, setting the foundation for her nation and further growth. Great roads were laid and engineers became the most honored men and women in the nation. Of particular note was Azula's integration of the many cultures in the Capital City and Harad into an overarching society that was encouraged through education, the arts, and trade.

(Ruthless, calculating, and tricky: Azula was the most feared leader in Middle Earth. Nonetheless, Azula took many disparate and warring peoples, most of whom had long been under the thumb of Sauron, and forged them into a well-educated and advanced nation that overcame everything thrown at it.)

Mines were delved into the desert rocks, the first coal and iron sources of the Empire providing fuel for the rapidly advancing industrial might of Capital City.

But, in focusing on internal growth and military consolidation, Azula halted the expansion of her army and navy. Prior, her wooden navy had been slowly built up to protect the coastal holdings south of Capital City. In a strategic gamble that banked on the fierce beating delivered to the Black Corsairs, Azula slowed production of wooden ships to a trickle and taught her shipwrights the concepts and plans behind steel steam ships, which could be far larger, faster, and sturdier than any wooden sailing vessel ever built.

In doing so, she jump-started the production of a coal navy but ended the steady growth of her ship numbers. And the Black Corsairs,taking advantage of traitorous spies to learn of the momentary advantage and in constant war-preparations throughout Southern and Far Harad since their defeat in the First Capital Expedition, gathered their forces and sailed through the sea, aiming directly for the city.

Azula, only just catching hold of a message from a Dai Li agent, mustered her army in defense and pulled her navy into the sheltered harbor of the capital, hoping to preserve the wooden ships.

(Another piece of information the Empire doesn't like spread around: that the Dai Li are more spies and secret police than special forces.)

However, though she saved her wooden navy and prevented an immediate assault upon the city, Azula surrendered the shipyards west of Capital City to the Corsairs, who wrecked and burned whatever they could. The metal skeletons of the first sea-worthy steam ships were dragged out and sunk into Belegaer as soon as the Corsairs realized what they were, though in their ignorance they left the engines alone.

For many months Azula rallied her defenses, once again pregnant, and several times personally held off determined pushes by the Corsairs to take the city. Often, she was forced to travel through the city in order to quell monstrous blazes set by the Corsairs, aided only by her fifteen and thirteen year old sons Zin Shu and Sozin.

(A tradition within Azula's descendants is to let their children loose young. All of them are employed in some manner by the time they are fifteen, and are expected to work their way up quickly.)

Skillful management of infantry companies spread in the towns and farms around the Havens allowed Azula to periodically open her land trade routes, and a great force marching from Far Harad was deflected by General Harwan and his heavy cavalry in defense of the inland cities.

At the end of a hard year of war, Azula's plans came to fruition.

All along the hills overlooking the Havens, Azula had slowly but surely secured positions for her infantry. Silently, her Dai Li, led by Sozin, made a great push that eliminated the camps on either side of the mouth of the Havens, and cavalry companies dragged forth the greatest new armament of the Empire: metal catapults.

(I must admit that the ingenious designs proposed by Azula have endlessly fascinated me.)

Nearly one hundred of the mighty war-engines, placed such that the entirety of the Havens was within range of at least a few, opened fire with the dawning of the Solstice Sun.

Fire and smoke rained down upon the massive fleet. Attracted by the fertile land and the prospect of looting the Capital once the siege won out, the Black Corsairs had concentrated nearly all of their ships within the Havens. Further, the daily fishing trips that fed the corsair hosts started at dawn, but the swift inversion of the siege trapped the numberless fishing boats within the Havens. Their men camped out along the shore were also completely unprepared for the sudden assault by the infantry spread out in the villages surrounding the Havens.

Caught by surprise and having never before seen the flaming coal missiles fired by the catapults, ships great and small were annihilated. Panic set in and those that attempted to flee first were scuttled by the Dai Li, blocking the mouth of the Havens and preventing the disorganized fleet from escaping the harbor.

In his first moment of glory, Sozin stood upon the ships sunk into the mouth of the harbor and set fire to any Corsair vessel that made it through the gauntlet of the ten catapults assigned to the cliffs either side of the strait.

(Sozin was-of all of his brothers, sisters, nephews, and nieces-the most like Azula.)

Azula herself led the Empire fleet as it broke out from the harbor, burning dozens of corsair raiding ships as vengeance for the assault on her Capital City. By the end of the day, hundreds of vessels had been burned and the wreckage was such that "a man could walk from one end of the bay to the other upon the blackened and shattered wood."

And so ended the Second Capital Expedition.

Those who surrendered were immediately put to work, clearing the strait and moving the catapults down onto special mountings put upon the small wooden fleet of the Empire. Within a month, Azula set off down the coast, leaving her son Zin Shu in charge of the Empire with her Ministers and sending General Harwan marching south with Sozin as Captain of the Dai Li attachment.

Through a series of systematic bombardments and occupations, Azula captured the coast for five hundred miles to the south. Harwan and his troops came in after, building roads and securing any population centers and inland realms along the way. Encouraging the discontent within the coastal cities, which had been stripped bare to support the invasion of the Empire of the Sun, Azula sailed into the city harbors as the liberating hero, the Sapphire Empress who heralded a new age.

(She also, I later found out, executed any dissenters after 'giving them the option of leaving' and marching them outside of the city to be lined up and slain by the Dai Li.)

Finally, at the extreme southern edge of her new lands Azula turned about and focused on getting revenge against her foes, the Black Corsairs. Sailing into the Belegaer, Azula made for the isles of Tol Uialgaer with her fleet.

Meanwhile, Sozin and Harwan finalized the integration of the new lands of the Empire. Governors were placed and both locals and people from Capital City and the army were given positions within the new bureaucracy. The industry of Capital City, focused during the siege on the construction of the catapults, turned to trade. Vast amounts of raw materials were transported from the new cities and returned as various finished products.

The new trade routes brought the southern cities securely into the bounds of the Empire of Sun, but the rest of Far Harad was not so easily swayed.

Nestled within deep jungles, the Haradrim of this land were well known for their warlike disposition and determined hatred of their every neighbor. To them, the Empire of the Sun was just a new realm to be raided.

Urged on by those who fled from Azula's proud armies, the tribesman gathered in the few cities at the heart of Far Harad and marched to the coast.

The Dai Li, already established within the ports, managed to catch wind of the new invasion but were already to late, for the army of Harwan was far south and could not return in time to prevent the razing of the new Empire domains.

Tens of thousands of infantry and dozens of war Mumakil descended upon the exposed coast, in particular the city of Bota.

And all that stood in their way was a handful of Dai Li led by Sozin. Sozin, by then 14 years of age and well experienced in the art of war after the multi-year conflicts of his childhood and the Second Capital Expedition, immediately set about minimizing casualties.

Messengers were sent and the people of Bota were evacuated by ship and road into neighboring cities, while a hasty militia was raised. At Sozin's request, the militia included both women and men, and set about raising makeshift barriers across the outer city streets. Led by a veteran of the Second Capital Expedition, the militia filled buildings with firewood and loads of coal stored for the navy.

Finally, Sozin had the militia make cloth mannequins, which were positioned at the barriers along with small braziers of fire.

To the west of Bota, in the hills at the edge of the jungles, Sozin and his band of Dai Li set up ambushes using logs and boulders along the routes to be taken by the advancing army.

For half a week and a night, Sozin and his team delayed the Haradrim. Sowing confusion, triggering traps long after the head of the army had passed, commandeering Mumakil, and generally making use of delaying tactics, the elite soldiers bought the militia time.

The Haradrim, proud and aggressive, continued the march to the city while dispatching small raiding teams across the countryside to catch refugees and Sozin's Dai Li. At midday, their hosts crested the final rise on the road to Bota and began the march down to Thurinlorn, the cove Bota was built within.

Lightly fortified, Bota presented an easy target to the Haradrim, but Sozin had well prepared for their attack upon the city.

The militia situated themselves directly ahead of the marching army, manning the barriers along with the cloth dummies. Sozin, having snuck into the city that morning, arranged their defenses such that they could quickly retreat.

First, the Haradrim moved their Mumakil forward with infantry following, intending to smash the barricades and drive the defenders fleeing into the city.

Sozin, in a well-orchestrated plan, let them.

The militia fired off a volley of whatever projectiles they could obtain, then fled from the barricade and left the cloth dummies standing in their place. The Haradrim had naturally expected many of their enemies to flee before the mighty Mumakil, and so continued their charge as if nothing had changed.

Sozin and his Dai Li waited.

The Mumakil smashed aside the barricades and stampeded into the narrow streets, and that is when Sozin struck. His squad had spread out and each took hold of a composite recurve bow that would later be used by the infamous Yu Yan archers, Sozin's personal forces.

With unerring aim, they shot the Mumakil in one eye and then knocked over the braziers.

(If I ever have to organize forces to face the Empire of the Sun, I will curse this happenstance in the Battle of Bota. Sozin well-noted the effectiveness of aiming for the eyes of Mumakil, and so Empire War Mumakil have armored coverings, made of a steel mesh, covering their eyes.)

With a great whump, the barricades and dummies which had been stuffed with bone dry straw from the surrounding hills caught flame and the Mumakil were trapped by flame on either side.

The militia rallied and attacked, springing from rooftops or firing arrows and spears from the ground. The Haradrim infantry companies, cut off from the Mumakil by the flames, could only fire arrows at the buildings in hopes of slaying those caught off guard.

After thirty minutes of confusion, all but a few of the Mumakil were dead and the militia had retreated to the next line of barricades. For the next four days, the Haradrim slowly advanced through the city, obstructed by fire, steel, and the ghosts of the Dai Li and their militia recruits. Several times Sozin lead sorties out of the city in order to raid camps and supplies.

The cloth dummies worked only for a single day, but when the Haradrim learned of the deception Sozin immediately turned it around: he disguised militia in cloth and straw padding and set them to laying by barricades and within houses. The ensuing ambushes forced the Haradrim to check each dummy for fire starters and waiting fighters.

At the end of four days of furious warfare, the Haradrim reached the city center only to find that the militia and Sozin were gone.

Dispirited and angry, the host settled in to loot whatever could be found in the ruined city and plan for later, better, raids.

That was when the ships entered the bay and General Harwan surrounded Thurinlorn.

Sozin, anticipating the taking of the city, had sent messages telling General Harwan to sail to the coast just south of Bota and disembark. From there, he wanted the General to encircle the hills and close in, cutting off all hope for escape.

And Sozin's final stroke, was to set fire to what little remained of the city, reducing the Haradrim to a meager camp and no supplies. They surrendered without a fight.

Sozin's first command, in defense of a city against a raid with tens of times the number of his own force, ended in overwhelming victory. He and Harwan later marched inland and added the domains of Far Harad to the Sun Empire.

The city that was built to replace Bota was renamed New Sozin in honor of the masterful battle fought to defend the coast.

(The residents of Bota were of two minds about the whole incident: some praised Sozin for saving them and stopping the army, others cursed him for burning their homes to the ground.)

Trusting her son and general with the defense of the Empire, Azula had sailed towards Tol Uialgaer, intent upon finishing the Black Corsairs once and for all.

She was met by a heavily fortified city with a small but skilled navy. Demonstrating the tactics that would govern the Navy of the Sun for the next hundred years, Azula held off the Corsairs with accurate, long range fire from her catapults and placed the city under siege. For weeks, she bombarded the ports along the coasts of Tol Uialgaer and fended off increasingly desperate probes by the Corsairs.

Fully confident in her victory, Azula personally descended upon the city with flame and lightning. The Corsairs, stunned by the flattening of one of their ancient island strongholds, fled south rather than face the wrath of the Dragon Empress.

(An apt name for a woman with near limitless ego and the power and will to match.)

The Empire of the Sun again entered into a period of peace and growth. Far Harad was added to the rapidly lengthening list of lands under the rule of Azula, and her family was ever growing. Already, she had four sons and two daughters, and four had displayed talent in firebending.

Sozin, her second eldest, proved himself to be a charismatic and cunning leader of men in the campaigns of the south, and rapidly rose in ranks until he was a Colonel of the Army at only 23 years of age. Her eldest, Zin Shu, was beloved by the people for the many public works he organized.

The beautiful Paths of Sunlight, the boulevards that divided Capital City into districts, were built and maintained by Zin Shu to clean the air and give the people of the city places to rest. The waterfront, long a place of waste and ugliness, was cleaned up and given new life by the harbors and beaches Zin Shu designed.

(Legolas has told me that he is particularly proud of his son's accomplishments in Capital City, which rival any Eldar city in wonder, as hard as that is to believe. He also informs me that the waste disposal plants near the industrial centers of the coast were the secret to the cities clean atmosphere and clear water.)

Azula herself took a liking to the Mumakil of Far Harad, and took great pains to procure a herd and establish it near the city, for use as beasts of burden and war mounts.

During this time the sunken remains of the half-finished steel navy were retrieved and construction resumed, with half a dozen cruisers being completed. Recieving these newest additions with open arms, the navy built a formal structure and appointed their first Admiral: Barangils. Barangils immediately rechristened the sea-force as the Navy of the Sun.

The army was reorganized, such that the new territories were given bases for training and recruiting and several subordinate forces, which had either surrendered to or joined Azula's march south, were distributed through the command structure. With the industry of the Empire fully coming into its own, the army received a great influx of armor and weapons, including vast amounts of siege equipment.

Trade exploded, as the now open southern coasts provided a new market and fresh workers. Exotic products, new sources of wood and metal, spices, and foods fountained up and down the Empire. Again caught up by the fervor that Azula spread, the new peoples built up many cities in imitation of the architecture of Capital City-itself influenced greatly by Azula.

New Academies were established, and cultural norms from the lands of Far Harad found their way north to Capital City and inland to the prosperous lands of the Sun. Scholars within the Royal University, raised as engineers and inventors, designed and improved early steam engines and metal working, adding constantly to the industry of the Empire.

While the Empire of the Sun firmly established itself, to the north on the borders of the Kingdom of Gondor, the forces of Sauron were gathering.

Sauron, long an enemy to Gondor, made use of the men of the East and South to assault the Kingdom of the West rather than face Men himself. In the year T.A 2509 Sauron organized a vast host of Balchoth from the East and set them against Northern Gondor.

The Steward of Gondor at the time, Cirion, was well aware of the forces being amassed against Gondor, and so sent missives to all of his allies. In response, Azula organized a fleet of river boats around a core of cruisers and placed Harwan in charge, with Sozin again attached to his command. However, Azula had other goals in mind besides securing her alliance with the Kingdom to the north and thwarting Sauron.

Cirion personally greeted the fleet and the ten thousand Army of the Sun troops at Pelargir, riding with the river boats up to Harlond before marching to join the South Army being gathered at Minas Tirith. Sozin, in command of a detachment of Dai Li in accordance with his second position as the head of the organization, continued to sail north on a handful of wooden steam boats.

While Cirion and Harwan marched to join the beleaguered Northern Army against the Balchoth, Sozin avoided battle and moved towards the Misty Mountains and Lorien. Knowing that the North Army stood a chance of being surrounded and destroyed before reinforcements could arrive, Sozin sent his agents scouting ahead of the North Army's line of retreat.

His forethought proved correct when Sozin's Dai Li spotted a host of orcs descending from the mountains into the rear of the Gondorians. The orcs were far to numerous for Sozin and his small band of Dai Li to do more than hinder with conventional tactics or even his own brand of ingenious sabotage.

Instead, Sozin's observations made him conclude a simple thing: no force of arms available to him would save the North Army, nor Harwan and Cirion's forces once they reinforced the embattled army. The Balchoth pressing West across the Anduin, and the orcs pressing East from the Misty Mountains, were simply to numerous to be overcome by the military might available.

So he turned to terror, and resolved to drive the orcs in flight back to the mountains with fear.

Many years before, the ever vigilant Sozin had noted the masterful planning which his mother Azula used to obtain victory in the Second Capital Expedition. Even outnumbered four to one on land and twenty to one at sea, Azula had completely crushed the Black Corsairs in a battle that would ascend into legend.

By holding back her new catapults until they could be unleashed in overwhelming force, Azula ensured that their shock value was not lost. By employing surprise, she threw a new and incomprehensible attack all at once and without warning into the face of the unprepared corsairs. By sealing the mouth of the Havens, she kept the enemy from fleeing and regrouping where their numbers would provide eventual victory.

Through careful employment of image, fear, and surprise, Azula annihilated a force that, if it had successfully rallied and counter-attacked, could have ground her nascent artillery and long wearied infantry companies into dust. Instead, they panicked and died, many ships foundering when they rammed into allies and most men on the shore simply surrendering when faced by the Army of the Sun.

Sozin, only thirteen at the time, had watched his mother's genius and learned the lessons inherent in the battle.

He made use of them once at Bota, when he employed shock and awe to force a significant force to surrender to a barely larger encircling army; and he made use of those lessons to defeat the orcs with only a few dozen men at his back.

The orcs, having crossed over the Nimrodel stream in their hasty raid East, were spread in easy columns. Sozin crashed into them with great gouts of red and orange flame, burning the raiders by the dozens.

Azula, the first firebender, was not the strongest. She was, and always will be, the greatest: her mastery of lightning and beautiful sapphire flames mark her especially as the first Child of the Sun, but many of her children, descendants of Azula's own blood and the blood of Legolas, a Sindarin elf, were closer to the Sun than any before or after.

Sozin in particular was known for breathing forth rivers of fire, and for throwing fireballs that burst with the fury of a dozen siege engines.

(Truly, Sozin was and is a terrifying sight to behold on the battlefield. I cannot attest to his early prowess, but in later wars I watched him raise rivers of fire that roasted entire companies. Now, 510 years after Azula first founded the Empire of the Sun, her firebending descendants have sufficient strength to raze Middle-Earth to the ground if they so desire it.)

His might was such that the orcs, even despite losing only a fraction of their numbers in the first minute of Sozin's assault, panicked and ran. Sozin slew hundreds, yet thousands stood behind the slain.

Only by dint of the surprise of his assault, and the blasts of fire which seemed as if a dragon had descended wrathfully upon them, did the orcs break and flee. As it was, they were certainly of a mind to fight back, for companies slowed and gathered in an attempt to divine the new foe which assailed them.

Sozin's Dai Li, armed with bows and well trained in their use, sniped any commanders they could find. Disguised as orcs with the remains of armor and clothes left behind by the initial assault, they ran amongst the orcs and interrupted any attempts to restore order and to further fuel the terror and confusion of the orc hosts.

After miles of frantic retreat and repeated sallies by Sozin, the orcs slowed. No matter how great a firebender, not even Sozin could destroy an entire army on his own when so young. The efforts of the Dai Li could only go so far until the orcs either slew many of them or simply gathered by weight of momentum. Soon enough, the orcs had returned with a semblance of order to the Nimrodel and gathered into a once more great host.

Here, Sozin made known his final plan of attack.

Sozin, after the Battle of Bota, had campaigned for a number of reforms for the Dai Li. His mother chose to place him in charge of the Dai Li and let him unify and improve them into an elite force able to tackle any challenge.

Most importantly for this battle, he had armed each of the Dai Li with a flask of early blasting jelly. Spread throughout the orc host, the Dai Li armed their flasks and prepared to detonate them upon Sozin's signal.

With a massive roar of fire, Sozin charged the orcs once more. This time, the orcs were at least prepared to face the so far barely seen or understood foe, but the sudden series of explosions that rocked their ranks, followed by the Dai Li slaying the last of the orc commanders, engendered a new panic in the orcs.

Many retreated into the stream, seeking safety from the blasts of fire thrown by Sozin. It proved to be their undoing, for Sozin pierced the heart of the army and came to the stream, upon which he summoned a shimmering curtain of orange fire, over a hundred meters long and half-a-dozen tall.

This proved to be the final straw, for the orcs forgot all sense of unity and direction; instead the various tribes scattered towards the mountains, heedless of their pursuers.

The battle came to be known simply as the Fire Curtain of Nimrodel.

To the East, the Battle of the Fields of Celebrant was hard fought, only won when the Éothéod of Eorl the Young descended upon the rear of the Balchoth. Harwan, after the battle, informed both Eorl and Cirion of the Empire of the Sun's suspicions that the Shadow in Morder was responsible for the Balchoth's aggressive actions.

The three later declared a mutual alliance against Mordor and all who allied with the Land of Shadow.

Sozin, meanwhile, reformed the tattered remnants of his force of Dai Li and followed the orcs into the mountains, determined to learn of their various trails and haunts in the Misty Mountains.

For his ultimate mission in travelling north was to obtain elven consorts for himself and his siblings.

A year and a half later, Sozin returned to the Empire of the Sun with a half-dozen elves and the one who was to be his bride, Lady Celebrian, after having rescued her from the orcs he had pursued into the mountains.

During that time, Azula and Cirion had conferred upon a joint action against Minas Morgul and the Variags of Khand. Upon Sozin's return he was promoted to General and put in charge of organizing a force to aid in the assault upon Minas Morgul alongside Gondor, though it would be another ten years before the war was begun.

This war became known as the Siege of Shadow, for the assault would become a fourteen year siege upon the Mountains of Shadow that formed the western and southern walls of Mordor.

Harwan, long a master of cavalry warfare, was given a vast force of tanks, wheeled and tracked steel transports powered by coal and armed with powerful ballista. The venerable Scorpion tank, with the Scorpio heavy ballista, first saw action in Harwan's push East into Khand.

Along with the tanks, twenty thousand infantry and fifteen thousand cavalry marched with Harwan. A massive supply force utilizing the earliest land-trains and thousands of engineers followed behind the conquering General.

Azula, still at the heart of her Empire, focused on strengthening the Navy and continuing expansion south of Far Harad.

Sozin was given a force of thirty thousand infantry and one hundred steel siege-engines. Alongside the gathered armies of Gondor, he marched from Osgiliath directly towards Minas Morgul, crushing any opposition and preceded by both the Dai Li and the Rangers of Ithilien.

The combined forces of the Empire and Gondor took the Morgul Vale, with Empire river boats providing a ready supply line up the Morgulduin. A long and protracted siege occured, for the stone of Minas Morgul was impervious to even the great war-engines of the Army of the Sun. Nonetheless, the fortress was eventually taken by the Allied Armies in 2523.

(The taking of Minas Morgul proved to be my greatest reason for supporting the Empire of the Sun. Minas Morgul, after five hundred years as the home and base of the Nazgul, was a place of malignant spirits and vicious evil. Men could be driven mad just by venturing through the vale near the fortress. Azula and all of her children proved to have great power over spirits, and Sozin and his two siblings that marched with him began the process of cleansing Minas Morgul of its evil when they first took it.)

To the Southeast, Harwan continued with his pacification of the Variags, who, despite having never faced tanks, put up fierce resistance. His advance turned northwards to follow the majority of Khandian population centers. It was not long before he came to march under the towering Mountains of Shadow.

Without warning, the campaigns that had at first seemed so promising were thrown into disarray by a great swarm of orcs, streaming from all across the Mountains of Shadow. Further, a force of Easterlings from Rhun and the Far East marched into Khand, driving Harwan and his hard-won conquests West along the Mountains.

A particularly large host led by the Witch-King, the Coward himself, marched down from the vale of the River Poros after traveling through the Mountains of Shadow by cave systems delved for the purpose. Wheeling north, the army marched towards the Morgul Vale and cut off the two armies at Minas Morgul from reinforcement.

(I had long planned on sabotaging the cave routes in the southern Mountains of Shadow, but when Umbar first became a grave threat to Gondor I focused on other things. During the Siege of Shadow I came to both thank and regret this decision, for much death resulted from the oversight.)

Sozin, upon learning of the coming encirclement, immediately made to garrison Minas Morgul itself. To his great surprise, a number of back ways built by the orcs allowed a great host to flood into the fortress. After a night and day of bitter fighting, the Gondorian and Imperial forces managed to retake Minas Morgul, but the fortress was no longer a secure place to wait out the forces of the Witch.

For many months the Witch forced his way up the Morgul Vale, all while orcs freely descended upon the defenders from a vast tunnel system that had been dug beneath the mountains. Sozin and his counterpart Hallas, the son of Cirion, fought a desperate battle of defense.

Sozin's sister Mai, in a bid to destroy a particularly large raid, followed the orcs into the cave system. It was only by dint of another of their brothers that any survivors returned from the ill-fated venture.

(Mai is a remarkably light-hearted woman; unfortunately when reminded of the Siege of Shadow she tends to become withdrawn. Though skilled at firebending and politics, she was never a great commander of men.)

Following the near loss of his sister, Sozin sent a final, desperate plea for aid to his mother and abandoned Minas Morgul entirely, instead gathering all of his forces within the siege-works which remained from the original siege. Hallas joined him, and for a while longer they managed to hold out against the encircling orcs: no longer having to worry about raids from within their own lines.

(Siege warfare had never been used properly or widely in Middle-Earth, and Azula's industry and tactics meant that usually she just rolled right over her enemies. However, the supplies and equipment of the Army of the Sun made them superb defenders and attackers, which utterly decimated any force which advanced upon their trenches.)

Azula, receiving the bad news from all across the eastern stretches of her Empire, girded herself once more for war.

Leaving Zin Shu in charge of Capital City, along with responsibility over the rest of the Empire of the Sun, she gathered what forces she could and made to extricate her son from his position. She also, with some satisfaction, sent the first of the Army of the Sun's War Mumakils to reinforce Harwan, certain that the general would make good use of the newly armed and armored war beasts.

Harwan took immediate advantage of the Mumakil. Azula had personally designed the armored platform and catapult upon the backs of the herd near Capital City, turning them into literal land-cruisers that could advance imperviously upon every known formation in Middle-Earth.

Within the year, Harwan retook all of his lost gains and placed a number of fortresses along the southern edge of the Mountains of Shadow, giving the newly formed Mumak Guard free reign to patrol the area.

While Harwan counter-attacked against the new invaders, Azula sent a vast force of river boats sailing up the Anduin and towards the Morgalduin. The Witch, perceiving the danger, set forces along the river to drive back the incoming river borne assault.

Azula intended the river force to be a distraction while she took the majority of her army up the Harad Road. The Witch, experienced in the ways of war, sent scouts south and spotted her force. Immediately, he sent orcs to raid the army and waylay supply trains.

This forced Azula to ask the Steward Cirion to load the largely empty river boats with supplies, while conserving or scavenging what she could find for her marching army. She also, in an attempt to secure the road, set her own contingent of tanks to escorting the supply convoys sent up the road from Capital City.

It took another month for Azula to fight her way to a confrontation with the Witch, during which Sozin and Hallas were forced into an ever smaller network of trenches and fortified bunkers, with slowly dwindling artillery ammunition and food supplies.

Many tales have been told of the bitter fighting within the Morgul Vale, of massed charges broken by flaming bolts and entrenched spearmen. The account by Hallas of the rain of fire brought by volleys of Imperial Artillery later became a popular story within Gondor.

Azula came into this situation with a small company of tanks, twenty-thousand infantry, and a thousand cavalry. It was scarcely more than what remained of Sozin's own command.

The Witch, having well learned from the grueling war of attrition he had fought against Azula's own son, entrenched his forces and continued assailing Sozin, confident that he could hold back the new army from Capital City.

What he did not count on was the true purpose of tanks. Standing atop her own personal tank, Azula charged directly through the orc lines followed by her massed cavalry and infantry.

Utterly impervious to anything short of a heavy anti-tank ballista bolt or a direct hit by a siege catapult, tanks such as the Scorpion utterly changed the face of warfare. A single charge by a tank company, such as that led by Azula, could pierce entire armies.

Along with the power of the tank's own armament and the deadly force of an unopposed infantry charge, Azula smashed aside the orc line and made to reinforce her son.

(Tanks are every bit as impressive and decisive as this writer describes, more so really. He neglects to mention their range of operation and the sheer variety of their armament, which ranges from scything blades to rapid-fire crossbows and even stranger things.)

The Witch, desperate to win this battle and hold Minas Morgul, the only significant pass into Mordor other than the Black Gate itself, rode forth and assaulted the tip of the armored spear. With a single swing of his mace, he stove in the front of Azula's tank.

Even at the age of fifty-eight, Azula was a beauty like none other. Her face was devoid of wrinkles, and her body was lithe and acrobatic from a lifetime of daily training. Pale white skin lent her features an ethereal air, while her golden eyes shone forth like jewels of the sun. Framing her noble face, long black hair descended from the ceremonial topknot of her family and emphasized the brightness of her gaze and the beauty of her fair skin.

Standing before the Witch wreathed by the flames of her exploding tank, Azula was the greatest and most terrifying woman to ever grace the battlefield.

While her son had power to spare, Azula was simply the best firebender who ever was, is, or will be. The Witch, so close to his base of Minas Morgul, was an equally terrible sight to behold. His flail blasted craters in the ground and his icy magics slew entire companies of men.

Their duel lit up the smoky valley even as Azula's army continued to charge through the breaking orcish hordes. Aware of his failing troops, the Witch drew in a great breath and blasted forth a ghastly shriek, which drove much of Azula's infantry and tanks into disarray and emboldened the orcs.

Azula herself fought against the terror of the Witch and won out. Knowing that her army could flee if the Witch gave another cry of terror, she traced a circle in the air and called upon her greatest power: lightning.

Cracks of thunder pierced the fog of war as Azula drove the Witch back. Not even his flail, a potent weapon of dark forges, could fully defend him from the blue lightning cast by the Empress. Within minutes, the Witch had fled in fear of the Empress, reatreating under the mountains while Azula resumed her advance towards Sozin.

(I personally believe the Witch-King decided to flee the moment when Azula began to throw lighting at him, for he was undoubtedly reminded that no mortal man may harm him. Azula, of course, could.)

Rendezvousing with the depleted forces of Gondor and her son, Azula determined that Minas Morgul was untenable so long as orcs infested the mountains. Pulling the allied armies back, she set up a series of forts at the mouth of the Morgul Vale and sent Sozin to Capital City to bring back needed weapons of war and send messages to Harwan.

Azula set about retraining her troops, using the Dai Li as advisors. After a year of small battles within Ithilien, Azula broke back into the Morgul Vale and set up the base of what was to become the core of the Shadow Fire Army, the eternal guard of the Mountains of Shadow.

As Sozin sailed back from Capital City, Azula began to send her troops to map and secure the tunnels within the mountains. Azula had, within the trenches and fortresses built over the four years of warfare, trained her troops to fight in dark and confined spaces.

Hallas and his Gondorian soldiers refused to go into the caves, deeming it a fool's errand, and instead opted to occupy Minas Morgul. Mai joined them and emplaced artillery on the walls.

By the time of Sozin's return, Azula had scouted dozens of miles worth of tunnels and captured a handful.

Sozin returned with a two batallions of modified tanks.

The first, Tundra Tanks, were equipped with modified ballista grapnels and great spiked wheels, which allowed them to climb the very face of the Mountains of Shadow.

The second, Borer Tanks, had large drills on the front that allowed for rapid carving of new tunnels through the mountains.

Azula sent her son up the mountains with the Tundra tanks, where he began the construction of a series of forts that would eventually stretch all the way around the southern tail of the Mountains of Shadow, the Torches. Great edifices of steel and stone carved into the mountainsides and placed upon the rocky peaks, the Torches were the top of the wall that Azula wished to turn the Mountains of Shadow into. Their name is derived from the signal fires and great mirrors, which beam light between the forts and down to the cities below, meaning that if a fort were to fall then it would be instantly known by every garrison in range. Sozin and the engineers with him pioneered many of the building techniques that would characterize later forts of the Empire of the Sun.

The Sapphire Empress herself descended into the darkness under the Mountains of Shadow with her well-trained army and disappeared for three years.

Another of her most legendary exploits was the recruiting of the orc Ghazgûl and the formation of the undercity Burzum-Ghâsh. After a year of bloody close-in ambush and counter-ambush warfare under the Mountains of Shadow, Azula knew that not even the Shadow Fire Army could win a war under the Earth.

She had, however, achieved sufficient knowledge of the intricate network of caves to find the heart of the orc armies under the mountains.

Drilling slowly, she approached the central hub of a sprawling hive populated by tens of thousands of orcs. Her own small force, barely a thousand strong, followed carefully behind.

Finally, as the Borer broke through high on the wall of a vast cavern, Azula dropped to the ground on a pillar of blue fire: to the surprise and horror of the hundreds of orcs residing or working in the rough hall.

Striding forward, Azula marched straight down the center of the dim cavern, lit only by the reddish glow of a magma stream that provided material for the forges of this army of orcs. She aimed for the nastiest orc she could see, a half-troll half-orc with cunning yellow eyes and a tall, compact frame.

Ghazgûl, leader of his tribe and the most ingenious orc to oppose Azula, had formed the backbone of the resistance that opposed the Shadow Fire Army. Other orc hosts merely raided or fell before Azula's army, unable to muster any significant strategy to combat her.

Ghazgûl, on the other hand, broke through into Azula's rear, captured and repurposed Borer tanks, stole and employed explosives, unleashed sudden blitz assaults that killed hundreds of men, and evaded or deflected every attempt by Azula to slay him.

On that day, Azula finally cornered him by marching alone through the heart of his domain. She stood before him and challenged him in front every orc there for the leadership of the orc tribes.

The orcs, after fighting Azula within their homes for a year, held her in great fear as the Blue Dragon, deadliest woman in Middle-Earth. Even despite that, they well expected Ghazgûl to accept her challenge, for he had personally fought her twice before, escaping each time. It was that very success which had earned him leadership of so many orcs as his fellow chieftains fell before her targeted onslaught.

Still, Ghazgûl was a uniquely charismatic orc after so long leading his forces, and declined to fight a fire sorceress in single combat when she would undoubtedly cheat with spells.

Azula, smiling, vowed to throw not a single spark, and that only an honorable imbecile would retreat in the face of such an opportunity.

Snarling, Ghazgûl leapt down from his rocky throne and landed before Azula, armored in black steel and determined to win. The orcs gathered round to watch the duel, intent to see if Azula was really foolish enough to go through with the challenge and whether or not Ghazgûl could beat her given the terms.

At first, the powerful and swift orc seemed to have the advantage. After all, he was seven feet tall, over three hundred fifty pounds, and far swifter than most any man. Wielding a barbed lance and a curved dagger half the size of a sword, Ghazgûl kept pressure upon the acrobatic and elusive Azula.

To the surprise of all the orcs there, Azula proved more than capable of victory against the seven foot tall orc without the use of fire. Her hard-won unarmed fighting skills, earned in the arenas of her youth, had been kept sharp and made deadlier by decades of training in which she perfected her technique.

To compound her unarmed skill, she was a master of hidden blades, using them as a backup to her firebending whenever she wished to stay hidden.

With three deft movements, she disarmed and paralyzed Ghazgûl before pinning him to the ground beneath her knives.

The orcs at first didn't even realize what had happened. It was not until a great crashing and chanting came from all around them that they realized Azula had won, for her soldier's cries of "All Hail the Dragon Empress" were proven true as the orcs bowed before her.

Ghazgûl himself surrendered to Azula, and she placed him in charge of the newly christened Burzum-Ghâsh, the city of Dark Fire. Azula set about forging the orcs into a blade in the dark: coldly deadly and perfectly aimed.

(This, I believe, is the truest proof of Azula's underlying nature. She understood the orcs on a deep level, for she herself reveled in destruction and war. The difference, was that Azula believed in controlled, perfectly modulated destruction for a purpose. Ghazgûl took the lessons taught to him by Azula to heart, and created a new orc nation right on the edge of the Dark Lords domains.)

After her unification of the Orcs under Ghazgûl, Azula spent two more years warring and building under the Mountains of Shadow, while Sozin conquered the peaks of the great range.

Emerging from the southern wing of the Mountains of Shadow, Azula met with Harwan, who had succeeded in pacifying Khand and was proceeding to integrate it into the Empire of Sun, and appointed him Governor of the Ember Lands, the former lands of Khand. She utilized the new supply route to take in many new recruits and tons of new materials, which she took back under the Mountains of Shadow to reinforce Burzum-Ghâsh.

For another three years, war raged under the mountains supplied by the massive industrial might of the Empire of the Sun. New war-engines were devised and great mines were drilled beneath the Mountains of Shadow, all to secure the borders of the Empire of the Sun.

Finally, Azula drove Mordor's forces from the southern wing of the Mountains of Shadow and appointed Ghazgûl the Governor of Burzum-Ghâsh. She marched home to Capital City where her arrival was greeted with great fanfare, for the Sapphire Empress had proven ultimately victorious in her first great contest against the Shadow.

(The first and only human, elven, or dwarven leader in the west to not only accept orcs, but to also to build a society for them, Azula was certainly Sauron's bitterest enemy. Even today, he curses her name for the damage she wrought upon his ultimate plans.)

The Empire of the Sun again enjoyed a period of peace and prosperity, as the Eastern borders were made secure and the southern lands were patrolled by the great Navy of the Sun. The Shadow Fire Army reorganized, becoming the only mixed race formation in Middle-Earth at the time. Thousands of orcs enlisted under the hastily promoted men who had long fought against and then beside the under the mountains. Azula characteristically precipitated the success of the Army by slowly integrating orcs throughout the later days of the Siege of Shadow, meaning that the flood of new recruits were met with a command structure prepared to accept them.

(I personally joined in during the Siege of Shadow, for the fourteen year conflict reached the ears of near every man, woman, and child in Middle-Earth. I spent much time with the Gondorian forces of Minas Morgul, which was rechristened as Minas Anor after Empire architects and engineers got done with a few years work turning the fortress into an alternately beautiful and intimidating headquarters. I actually helped to lead a small contingent of Rangers who chose to join the Shadow Fire Army in the fight under and over the mountains.

(Near the end of the conflict, when Azula was laying future plans for Burzum-Ghâsh with Ghazgûl, I met with her to discuss the wisdom of employing orcs so close to their ancestral master. We discussed many things that day, but it was what she said about the orcs that most impressed upon me her deep understanding of hearts, be they man or other. I had straight out told her that orcs were to hateful and warlike to be forged into a proper civilization, and she laughed for a time before staring me down with her molten gold gaze. Her words burned straight into my mind: "Old fool, men are far more ruthless and destructive than orcs ever were. You know what the difference is? Fear. Orcs understand it, men don't. Orcs recognize strength and terror and submit to it where men would foolishly stand up for their honor or homes or what-have-you. But what they have never had yet always desired is -dominance-. They fear because they are weak. They hate because they are weak. They are savage because they are weak. What I have done? I have given them strength, the route to dominance. I have given them pride, the source of defiance. I have given them structure and identity and intelligence. I have placed the world at their feet and told them: 'Here is power. Take it and stand tall.' I have given them everything they want under the whip of fear, and then I showed mercy. They are mine now, and the Shadow will never know why."

Her words proved true, for the orcs of the Mountains of Shadow gained mastery over the sun of their own accord. They spit upon the offers of the Dark Lord and mocked their weaker brethren. And even more, they are ever thankful to Azula and staunch allies and trading partners of the Empire of the Sun, though they have gained a measure of independence over the centuries.)

Azula had her last child, her daughter Anairë (whom Legolas named), at 69 years of age. There was much celebrating at the birth of Azula's eleventh child, for all before had inherited her grace, skill, strength, and firebending. She would leave the Capital City in anger only two more times, once to rescue two of her grandchildren when they were kidnapped by cowardly agents of the Shadow, and once to defeat an invasion from the Far East.

The kidnapping of Hyanai and Azulon, daughter and son of Azula's son Eöl Eöl and the elf princess Abranië, resulted in the first action by the Air Force of the Sun and the first airships of Middle-Earth (technically both true and untrue), the Sunhawk class war balloons. Spies of the Shadow succeeded in isolating and abducting the six year old Hyanai and four year old Azulon when they played in the parks set down in Capital City by Zin Shu. Their escape from the city was noted by Dai Li who set out in immediate pursuit, though traitors to the Empire delayed the agents before being slain.

Zin Shu, as guardian of the extended royal family, was the first to learn of the abduction and immediately joined in the hunt for the kidnappers after sending a messenger to fetch his mother.

It has been said that Azula's rage was a contradictory thing. Azula had two thrones, one for military matters and one for public matters. The public throne stood at the head of a great marble plaza and was adorned with much gold and red lining. At the top of the throne sat a white diamond and gold amber stone, which were lit from within by the flames of the Sapphire Empress. Audiences, public trials, announcements, and councils were held at the public throne. Matters of war were discussed upon the Dragon Throne, a sleek and dark red seat surrounded with flames fueled by Azula herself.

When Azula was annoyed or making a point, the jewels and flames would pulse in time with her heartbeat, becoming more erratic as Azula suited. But as Azula's annoyance passed to anger, and from thence to fury, the flames and lights would calm, becoming ever bluer until the diamond was of ice and the amber of chrome, whilst the blue flames in the war room became increasingly steady and of a slower rythmn.

On the day of her grandchildren's kidnapping, it is said that the blue flames of the war room froze in place, stilled for but a moment as all present held their breaths. With the predatory grace for which she was legend, the eighty year old Azula, finally beginning to show her age in her features if not in her gait, stood and strode out of the room.

With a great roar she rose from the ground on blue wings of fire, her most legendary skill besides lighting manipulation.

By the time the kidnappers had made it twelve kilometers from the city, Azula descended from on high like the bolts she was famed for.

But the kidnappers had become distractions, and after killing them Azula sent her son Zin Shu to gather the air force built in secret in the Ember Lands while she delayed the one who had taken her grandchildren: the Witch himself.

Sauron had long bred strange and fearsome creatures within the bounds of Mordor or deep under the poisonous shade of Mirkwood, but the greatest of his creations were the fell bat-like beasts which he gifted to his Nazgûl. All nine rode forth upon their flying steeds, determined to capture a descendant of Azula for the nefarious ends of the Great Shadow.

But their flight into Mordor was not to be, for Azula came upon them with a fiery vengeance and roar of fury.

Their battle in the heavens was viewed in towns across the Kandar ar-Harnen and the length of the river Harnen, until the Nazgûl managed to reach the Mountains of Shadow. In doing so, they lost three of their number, though those three would appear in later conflicts against the Empire. Azula captured and forcibly rode one of the fell-beasts in order to continue her pursuit of the Shadow's most fearsome servants.

Finally, at the summit of the greatest peak of the southern stretch of the Mountains of Shadow, the Nazgûl set down upon one of the Torches, which had been captured by and manned by a host of orcs.

A hail of artillery greeted Azula as she pursued her prey: great coal rounds, steel ballista bolts, explosive bolts, arrows, spears, and rocks. With unparalleled grace she leapt from her stolen mount and slipped through the firestorm, landing upon the mount of the Witch and slaying the beast with a single lightning lance.

Here, after hours of flight and battle, Azula fought the most legendary clash of powers in the Third Age. The remaining Nazgûl sacrificed the blood of their host of orcs in order to attack Azula with their full might, fully intending to slay the skilled and seemingly invincible leader of the Empire of the Sun.

From twilight to dawn, a lightning storm called up by Azula clashed with an icy blizzard summoned by the Witch. The peak of the mountain flashed with fire and ice as the two deadliest foes in all of Middle-Earth clashed furiously, holding nothing back. Marching cloudbanks and rising winds spun and whorled violently, reflecting the light of the combat eerily for all who could view the mountain peak.

(It is my belief that the Witch and Khamûl called up the storm and turned it to a blizzard. Azula, a true genius, manipulated the hot air rising from the plains and rocks of Kandar ar-Harnen and turned the southern portion of the storm into a thunderhead cloud before utilizing the built up charge to further fuel her attacks. The scars of their battle are visible on a clear day from nearly fifty miles away.)

Ultimately, it was a delaying action for both sides. Zin Shu, having sent messenges racing far ahead, managed to get the Shadow Fire Army raised and alert, which tipped them off to the loss of one of the Torches. Quick reaction companies had the fort retaken within hours of the kidnapping until the battle between Azula and the Nazgûl forced them back into the tunnels.

However, without orcs to transport the kidnapped children and with Azula's lightning and the Witch's freezing hail striking down anything which attempted to fly, the Nazgûl were unable to send the captured children further into Mordor.

Hours later as dawn broke and the might of the Nazgûl began to wane, Azula fully overcame the six remaining servants of Sauron.

Unexpectedly, a mass of orcs that had scaled the mountains using captured or copied Tundra tanks flooded into the fort, delaying Azula and allowing the Nazgûl to once more take flight with their prize.

Their victory was short lived, for Zin Shu arrived with the breaking of dawn's light with a fleet of war balloons in tow.

Though nowhere near as warlike as his brother Sozin, Zin Shu had all of his brother's power skill if far less of his power. A blanket of flames grounded the fell beasts of the Nazgûl before the Talon ballista bolts made famous by the Sunhawk scout balloons slew the beasts and drove the Nazgûl to ground.

Azula, having fought her way clear of the orc horde and left the recapturing of the fortress to the waiting Shadow Fire companies, leapt down the mountains side and advanced upon the cornered Witch and his company.

Both sides, tired and bedraggled, fell silent as the Witch held a knife to the throat of Hyanai. Azula stilled at the action. With calm dignity, she drew herself up and stared at the Witch with veiled eyes.

Before all watching, Azula knelt to the ground and offered her neck.

So unexpected was the action that it took fully two minutes before the Witch advanced, Morgul Blade pricking the skin of the terrified Hyanai.

Zin Shu, horrified at the situation, quietly sent signals to all of his air force, ordering them to aim for the Witch but hold fire.

The rest of the Nazgûl regrouped, standing as one and surrounding the unconscious form of Azulon.

The men and orcs fighting over the Torches above paused, intrigued by the sudden stillness of the air force.

And Azula remained facing the ground, hair brushing the dirt and knees bleeding against the jagged rocks of the Mountains of Shadow.

After the infinite breathlessness of the moment, the Witch stopped before Azula and hissed his proclamation: "In the name of the Dark Lord, I condemn you to an eternity of suffering within his halls. May your cursed life never burn out."

His Morgul Blade descended.

Azula was the first woman to build her own empire in Middle Earth.

She was the first ruler to espouse universal education.

She was the first ruler to steal the servants of the Dark Lord out from under him.

She was the first ruler to defeat the Witch in single combat.

She was the first ruler to defy Sauron within the seat of his power.

She was the first mother of the Children of the Sun.

She was the first firebender.

She was the first engineer.

She was the first industrialist.

She was the first professor.

She was the first martial artist.

Azula was the brightest light to shine in Middle Earth since the loss of the Silmarils, and brought unequaled prosperity and knowledge to the Empire of the Sun.

(Surprisingly, some of the elves captured by Azula taught the lore of the Elven in the National Academies or Royal University, for it was the greatest freedom they could receive within Capital City.)

The Witch, treacherous as ever, hoped that by slaying her he could remove the greatest obstacle faced by Sauron since Numenor forced his surrender by military might. He believed that Azula was the central pillar of the Empire of the Sun and that her death would divide it and fell it.

Azula, fighting since the day she was born and defending the light of her own grandchildren, burned all of the Nazgûl present in a single, bright flash of blue. She had, without moving, summoned fire from within the heart of the Nazgûl and incinerated them with her contained fury.

She reached up and caught Hyanai as the girl collapsed and walked over to pick up her grandson Azulon.

The Witch and the five Nazgûl present on that day weren't seen for three hundred years.

It is without doubt that Azula's victory that day was complete. Her grandchildren were returned and the Witch defeated. When her son Zin Shu came up to ask her why she willingly brought herself a mere instant from death for her grandchildren when so many depended upon her strong leadership and opposition of the Shadow, Azula replied:

"I am the Empress of the Sun. My honor and duty are to be as the representative of the Sun here on Arda, providing life and light for my people. You, Zin Shu-and Hyanai and Azulon-are the light I have gifted unto this world. I will be snuffed out ere long, but my children and their children and their children's grandchildren will always be here.

"My death on this or any day would be inconsequential, for my illumination has already seeded itself across Middle-Earth."

These later days of Azula's reign are filled with art and industry beyond compare as the glorious Empire of the Sun flourishes under our Fair Empress' tutelage. Great Zûbar in the far south, the most prosperous of the provinces of Far Harad, draws forth from the Earth gold and jewels. The Ember Lands connect the Eastern Reaches of the Empire with Capital City, and numerous small cities dot the long trade routes that cross the desert land. Hu Xin, the grasslands conquered and later governed by Harwan in recent years, trade with the Far East and tend vast spice fields, whose products reach every corner of Middle Earth. Burzum-Ghâsh, greatest mine and wall in all the world, stands firm against the Shadow, crowned by the Torches and fueled by the mines reaching to the very roots of the Mountains of Shadow. And Capital City shines at the appex of it all with the light of the Sun upon the Earth, men and orcs from all corners of the Empire visiting the seat of the greatest ruler of Middle Earth.

* * *

Here ends this particular account. It was an early draft of the introduction to a treatise on the state of Azula's Empire of the Sun written during the last decade of her life and reign. The author was eventually hired on to convert his work into an official court history that tied the achievements of Azula to the prosperity and civilization prevalent at the end of her reign. Ironically, the widespread culture and art was merely a means to keep her people happy and motivated, though her appreciation for elegance and beauty certainly contributed, while Azula prepared for an eventual confrontation with Sauron, whom she truly detested by the end of her life.

It has always been my personal opinion that Azula saw herself in Sauron, and after enduring enslavement under his minions vowed to be better than he in all aspects.

Alas, Sauron had ordered his lieutenants to retreat and bolster the defenses left in Mordor while working to gain servants in the Far East, which he had never truly subdued or fully corrupted. Rather than a chance to eliminate the object of her loathing, Azula died in bed of natural causes in T.A 2600 at 134 years of age. If Sauron had indeed been foolish or arrogant enough to gather his power and challenge Azula directly, she would undoubtedly have permanently removed a grave threat to Middle-Earth with brutal efficiency and disturbing grace.

I turn, now, to the purpose of obtaining and studying this transcript: learning the truth behind the Empire of the Sun and so hopefully the motivations behind the tension between Gondor and the Empire today. By obtaining a true picture of the Empire, I hope to reconcile the two powerful nations before war breaks out while Sauron stealthily strengthens his hold over Mordor and the rest of Middle-Earth.

The reason that I have resorted to this hidden and incomplete introduction is the machinations of the Dai Li, Azula's and later Sozin's task force of secret police. Early in their history when I visited the young Empire of the Sun, they heard of me by reputation, and the name Incánus, and began to keep close tabs upon my movements and information gathering. Eventually we reached a working relationship in which portions of out intelligence network (A coin termed by Azula that I quite appreciate as an alternative to 'friendly informants') were tied together.

By and large our mutual opposition of the Dark Lord meant that our cooperation was both beneficial and inevitable. Unfortunately it took me nearly a century to pry the knowledge of Sauron's return to Dol Guldur out of them. At the time that I hear of their uncovering of his identiry I merely believed that their agents had investigated every potential ally and enemy they could discover and that some of their orc members had managed to infiltrate the fortress and learn of the Necromancer's deeper truth. It was only in reading this account that I realized the Dai Li gained their knowledge from Azula herself, though it is not corroborated by any external source.

At any rate, I and the Dai Li shared information and it was fairly often that we aided each other in uncovering and thwarting Sauron's labyrinthine web of plots and agents. The Head of the Dai Li, at first Sozin himself and later a series of men who began to traditionally abandon their own name in favor of their formal title, often worked with me directly. I actually ended up with a personal team of Dai Li that I utilized sparingly in full knowledge that they reported my activities.

While I did keep much information from the Dai Li, most notably my contact with Morinehtar and Rómestámo (whom I managed to contact largely thanks to the existence of the Empire of the Sun and its trade with the Far East), I ended up truly shocked by many of the secrets concealed by their massive order.

The most important and relevant of truths was revealed shortly after Azula's death, when Legolas returned to his Father's realm one hundred-sixteen years after his capture.

When Sozin pursued the orcs into the Misty Mountains in the early months of 2510, he merely sought to attain guides that could direct him to the realms of the Elves. Instead, he ended up torturing an orc into revealing that Celebrian, Lord Elrond's wife, had been taken captive by a band of goblins. Sozin found the band deep in the recesses of the mountains, as well as Celebrian, and slew the goblins before picking up Celebrian and tending to her wounds.

Ironically, Azula's ability to cause death and destruction is matched by her knowledge of healing, which she used to revolutionize the lives of her people. Sozin had learned well from his mother and used his knowledge to save her from the worst of her suffering and thus save her life. Celebrian was naturally very thankful to Sozin for his rescue and kindness, yet when she asked to be returned to her people he denied her, instead declaring his intention to take her as his wife.

Her protests that she had a husband and sons were dismissed and for the next year she was forced to travel with Sozin and his Dai Li as they waylaid and captured a half-dozen more elves. It was during this time that Sozin formed the nucleus of his Yu Yan archers, as he trained his agents much as his father Legolas had trained him: namely, to the point where they could capture elves unharmed by pinning them to trees or the ground with precisely aimed arrows. Most significantly, Sozin employed the habitual practice of misinformation and misdirection of the Dai Li, leaving behind fabricated evidence that the elves were dead, taken East, or lost without a trace.

When they finally returned to Capital City, Celebrian and Sozin were married in a grand ceremony, with Celebrian being made to take an alternate name, which Sozin allowed to be Eärwen at her request. Sozin had in fact learned of her marriage to Lord Elrond and held no desire to attract a powerful foe to the shores of his home, but he in the pridefulness of youth could not resist showing off his beautiful wife to his people.

After Celebrian's first capture late in 2509, Elrond and his sons set out on a search as soon as her mother Galadriel informed them that Celebrian had not arrived in Lothlorien. They managed to track her down into the hole in which she was held captive, but found only burned and mutilated goblins. For another year they traveled to find her, hoping that she had been rescued but fearing that she had been taken in a power struggle between orcs, or worse, that the Necromancer in Dol Guldur had taken her.

Ultimately, Elrond returned to Rivendell to organize a greater search while his sons did their best to pick up some sort of trail. After another year of tracking back and forth across Middle-Earth with little information to go on, Elladan and Elrohir heard of the wife of Prince Sozin of the newly founded Empire of the Sun, ally of Gondor. Namely, they recognized her name Eärwen as that of their great-grandmother, as well as the descriptions of her silver-hair and breathtaking beauty.

At the time within the eastern fringes of Rhun, where they had followed rumors of kidnapped elves spread by the Dai Li under direction of Sozin (which were true, for Sozin had gone one step further and set up a slave ring which specialized in capturing and trading elves; the brothers personally destroyed the group), the Brothers could only entrust a short and cryptic message to a trader before heading south.

They did find their mother; unwisely traveling together and asking for information on her with only a minimum of secrecy. The Dai Li, already strong by then, picked up on their travel and captured the brothers, bringing them back to Capital City where they were judged by Sozin. Amazingly, it seemed that Sozin genuinely loved Celebrian, for he spared the brothers and instead married Elrohir to his younger sister Mai and set Elladan to writing books on the elves for the Dai Li.

Sozin immediately had Celebrian's name changed to Ursa, a suggestion from his mother, dyed her hair black and had the Dai Li set about covering up the information and deflecting investigations set up by Elrond.

For the next eighty-seven years Elladan and Elrohir, and all of the rest of the elves, were kept under close watch by the Dai Li. The guardian of Azula's extended family, Zin Shu, did much to make the lives of the elves freer and happier; his own elven wife Gladhanthir grew to love him and the two live together in Capital City to this day.

Ultimately, it was Legolas who would break free of Azula's control. He has said little of the truth, and the relationship between he and Azula was ever mysterious to all involved, but it is my belief that Azula eventually grew to truly love Legolas. I have no true notion of how or when it happened, not even vague guesses, but shortly before Azula's death she decreed that Legolas was free to return home. Less than a day after this pronouncement, she gave Elladan and Elrohir the choice to accompany him, though she ordered that the rest of the elves were to remain. From what hints I have gathered over the years from members of the family, both Legolas and Sozin convinced Azula to let the brothers go free against her better judgement.

Elladan and Elrohir parted from Legolas at Lorien, informing Galadriel of their mother's predicament and their own imprisonment. They further traveled to Rivendell, where they reunited with their father Elrond and discussed their and Celebrian's situation.

Elrond, after first losing his beloved wife to orcs and then losing his sons with little more than a garbled message passed from Rhun to Dale to the Woodland Realm and thence to Rivendell to inform him as to their fate, was a greatly diminished Lord.

While his sons had searched, Elrond had contacted Thranduil, Lindon, the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains, myself, and Gondor in hopes of finding rumor of his wife. Many elven bands that wandered Middle-Earth were instructed to listen for the slightest whisper of her whereabouts, and Elrond began to gather and send off search parties. The Dúnedain combed the Northern Wilderness and the Misty Mountains, just as ships sailing from the Grey Havens began to sail the coasts of Middle Earth in large numbers for the first time in the age.

After the last message from his sons, Elrond spent ten years building a network in the hopes of locating any of his missing family, aided greatly by Galadriel and even Thranduil, who had done the same in hopes of locating his missing son.

Eventually, the search had slowed, reduced merely to passive information gathering by a handful of dedicated trackers who swore to find Celebrian and her sons.

Elrond himself set off to search when the Dwarves informed him that they could no longer send parties solely to search for the Elven Queen. For three years he wandered Middle-Earth widely, even treking down to the Empire of the Sun and thence into the East.

It is to my greatest shame that I did not recognize Celebrian for who she was, though I never once managed to come into direct contact with any of the elves that Azula and Sozin had kidnapped.

The return of Elrond to Rivendell, filled with despair and shattered hope, was the subject of an epic poem, the Gwath Nírnaeth, written just prior Elladan's and Elrohir's reunion with their father. Elrond came back from the East an elf devoid of happiness and without reason to live.

He was greeted by his counselor Erestor and his daughter Arwen. She beheld his lonesome return and reached out to embrace him, before he and Erestor retreated to Elrond's study.

The next morning, he emerged a changed elf. Cold, committed to duty, and determined to safeguard the elves of Middle-Earth, he set about girding the elves of Rivendell to aid the Dunedain in cleaning up the orc infestation of the North.

His people, long a joyous and kind kin, grew greatly subdued in the face of their Lords pain. The only time in which laughter and merriment rang freely within the halls of Rivendell was when Arwen herself intervened, accompanying her father and bringing a reserved smile to his face and levity to the hearts of all present.

For seventy years the elves of Rivendell slowly remembered the hunts of ages past, when the sun had yet to rise and the stars brought soft light onto the dark forests of Arda. They retained the spark of kindly hospitality in their hearts, but the fierce joy of hunting quickly became prevalent within the once sheltered valley.

Elrond often left with his hunters, striking further and further afield in his hunt for orcs, goblins, and trolls. In battle many recalled the War of the Last Alliance and Elrond's place as the herald of Gil-Galad. Those who were there often stated that he was far fiercer than ever he had been, and that the cold fury written within every line of his face would freeze the hearts of every orc to behold it.

The return of Elladan and Elrohir brought great shock and even greater joy to Rivendell and Elrond in particular. Galadriel had chosen to let Elrond hear the news of Celebrian's capture from his sons rather than herself, hoping to offset his immediate reaction with the fierce happiness of unexpected reunion.

She was correct, for it was only by the insistence of his sons that Elrond did not immediately gather a host and march south to free his wife from Sozin.

Instead, he began to plan.

A company of elves, captained by Glorfindel and guided by Elladan and Elrohir, snuck south, scattering and infiltrating into the Empire of the Sun. By then Sozin was Emperor of the Sun, appointed by his mother upon her death while Zin Shu became the head of the family and one of Sozin's counselors (The two were remarkably close despite their opposing personalities).

Elrond armed and readied his elves, sending messages to Thranduil and Galadriel to do the same. He also sent Erestor, his right-hand, to visit the Grey Havens and request for Cirdan to provide him with the fastest fleet of ships on the water, so that they could escape with Celebrian from the Empire of the Sun.

Elladan and Elrohir, well-acquainted with the Dai Li and the full might of the Empire of the Sun, ensured that only a few elves, disguised as men of Rohan or Gondor, traveled into the Empire itself. They advised Glorfindel to remain within Gondor as a visiting dignitary before pretending to leave and instead camping out in South Ithilien, which was still sparsely populated if heavily traveled.

Their efforts were aided by Elrohir's wife Mai, who provided fake papers and well-informed contacts for the handful of Elves that had snuck into Capital City.

I myself, upon learning of the situation, considered aiding the brothers in freeing their mother. Unfortunately, the Dai Li were more than capable of keeping track of my movements and I could never be sure that my interference wouldn't lead to the uncovering of the plot.

Instead I misled the Dai Li and focused them upon a conspiracy of orcs and men within Burzum-Ghâsh and other parts of the Eastern Provinces who worshipped Morgoth.

Alas, all of the brothers efforts were for naught, as they had not the limitless experience and resources which the Dai Li could call upon.

Sozin personally thwarted the rescue attempt; in fact, he provided a good opportunity for the brothers to free the mother by letting her go alone into the parks of Capital City with only a single team of Dai Li guarding her, which the brothers swiftly disabled (Mai taught her husband the Chi-Blocking fighting style of the Dai Li and he in turn taught his brother).

However, Sozin was walking nearby in disguise, with only a few hidden Dai Li to keep suspicion low. The four men confronted Elladan and Elrohir even as they ushered their mother out of the park. The resulting battle was swift and decisive, for Sozin blasted the brothers into the ground with a front of hot air and then had his Dai Li disable them while the two were dazed.

Dai Li in other parts of the city subdued the other elven and a few men conspirators and brought them before Sozin.

Smiling cruelly, Sozin declared that they could all go free for what man could begrudge the family of his wife for wishing to protect her. He then marched them to the borders of the Empire, near South Ithilien, and announced for all to hear that the brothers Elladan and Elrohir were from now on forbidden from entering the lands of the Empire.

Glorfindel, accompanied by a band of Wood Elves led by Legolas, marched out to meet Sozin face to face and declare the eternal enmity between the House of Elrond and the House of Sozin.

In response the Emperor threw Elladan and Elrohir to the ground and dared them to try again.

Thus Glorfindel led the brothers back to Rivendell, where they told Elrond of their failure. They also, however, declared that they would never rest whilst their mother remained Sozin's consort, and informed him of the divisions of the House of Azula.

Azula's descendants, which today number nearly a thousand, are an incredibly diverse family. They are also uniquely unified and tight-knit. Azula, upon having her first child, vowed that she would love all of her descendants equally regardless of their actions and words. Her grandson Zuko has informed me that Azula had a great deal of issues within her birth family, for her mother considered her a monster thanks to her talent and disposition whereas her father saw an opportunity.

Not to say that her parents didn't care for her, by all accounts Azula and her Mother did love each other and her Father was as dutiful as a slave farmer could be; not to mention their death when they attempted to save her. However, there was apparently clear favoritism within their family with regards to Azula and her never named or found older brother.

Sozin, as the closest in personality and skillset to his mother, was Azula's obvious heir. But she maintained an equally close relationship with her eldest Zin Shu. Prior to his efforts at reform, Azula valued efficiency and industry over beauty and grace. She herself was a graceful predator, not a dainty noblewoman. Zin Shu's efforts to beautify Capital City were surprisingly well received by Azula, who also began to implement architectural reforms throughout the Empire, the most notable of which was the reintroduction of bamboo as a primary construction material.

All three contributed to the designs of the venerable Empress class cruiser, a sleek and sharp-prowed warship over 200 meters long and 30 wide. The introduction of gold and white to contrast the dark red and black steel of the hull created what is widely regarded as the most awe-inspiring line of ships ever created. (Though Cirdan would certainly disagree).

Despite the open and friendly relations between family members, Azula's descendants had deep divides. Azula was, beyond any doubt, a ruthless and vindictive person. Several times she burned cities to the ground, and dissenters were silenced through any means including and up to mass murder.

Her children were rarely the same.

I personally credit the influence of Legolas and the other elves with the often kind dispositions of Azula's children and grandchildren. Azula's unconditional love, though sometimes feigned, undoubtedly contributed to her children's benevolent attitude. Further, the national culture of honor and civilization which Azula promoted was well received by her children, with only a few noticing early on what its true purpose was.

This did not mean that Azula's children were incapable of ruthless actions. Zin Shu himself has killed hundreds of men, primarily during the Second Capital Expedition. Of Azula's many descendants, over half have served in the Empire's Military in some fashion: most popularly the Army of the Sun or the Air Force.

Despite this, the love that exists between the people of the Empire and Azula's family kept all but a few from becoming truly capable of monstrous deeds, and as they aged many became less and less like their mother.

Sozin alone retained all of her capacity for cruelty and violence.

Because of this, many of Azula's children sympathized with their various elven mothers and fathers. Celebrian in particular was well-liked, for despite her dark position she openly cared for her own children by Sozin and often helped raise and care for her nieces and nephews, even a few of her sibling-in-laws born later in Azula's life.

The forced marriages between the elves and Azula's children resulted in several loveless marriages, but in all cases a sympathetic relationship of some sort developed. Often, the marriages that did result in love contained fierce strain thanks to the enforced nature of the partnership, and Azula's children, such as Mai, generally wished to improve the lives of their spouses. Mai herself was more than willing to let Elrohir leave, though she loved him deeply.

Elladan and Elrohir planned to use this against Sozin, in the hopes of freeing their mother with the aid of Sozin's own family.

Elrond agreed, but vowed that if all else failed that he would make war upon the Empire of the Sun and retrieve his wife through whatever means necessary. He also, though not aloud anywhere within the presence of Legolas, vowed to personally slay Sozin for taking his wife by force.

Many times did Elladan and Elrohir attempt to free their mother. They set up spy rings, built specially trained units of elves and men, gained allies, disrupted infrastructure and plans, infiltrated the nobility, took over or built trading and manufacturing companies, and even attempted to flee the city in a modified airship.

Several times they took their mother as far as the city limits. Despite a century of effort, Sozin halted their every foray and threw them out upon his borders: sometimes in the East, sometimes in the South, and often in the North to their allies, where he openly mocked them. He also began to torture them for their efforts, and took Elladan's right and Elrohir's left ears. "To distinguish them," Sozin reportedly declared, "for I cannot tell which is my sister's former spouse."

Elrond himself built a great power base, and his renewal was of incredible potency. Where in his hopeless state he had been greatly diminished and embittered, with the return of his sons and the prospect of once more seeing his wife, Elrond grew strong with purpose.

Straight backed and clear-eyed, he became more formidable a Lord than ever he had been. He honed his arts of war, knowing full well that Sozin was a man with all of the power of a dragon at his fingertips and all of the grace and senses of an elf. The spy network set up by his sons, and my own contacts, were bolstered by Elrond's efforts with his and Galadriel's Rings of Power. Their powers of concealment were extended in small pockets, providing safe havens within the Empire and diverting the attention of the Dai Li.

Rivendell, for several decades a comparatively dour place, again became a place of activity and joyous celebration. Underpinning all of the elves activity, however, was a sense of steely determination. They drilled. They crafted. They learned. They hunted.

I myself visited often during these years, attempting to dissuade Elrond from the path that he had chosen. I knew his love for Celebrian and I knew how far he would go to free her, but I foresaw only doom. The Empire of the Sun, for all of its faults, had struck grave blows against Sauron and become a lasting and enduring nation. Open war between the Eldar and Men would only lead to disaster.

Our friendship was greatly strained in those days, for as Elrond told me, "I cannot stand idle whilst my wife is taken to bed by a tyrant. Would you have me surrender to a man who believes himself above me? Sooner would I fall upon my own blade. I will take his head for his hubris; I have seen it."

Ironically, the crusade that Elrond had set foot upon became a time of renewal for the elves. No longer were they content to sit and watch the world flow by as their eternal gardens shrunk. Thranduil, greatly insulted by Azula's kidnapping of his son, pledged to aid Elrond in freeing Celebrian from Sozin. Galadriel and Celeborn, naturally concerned for their daughter, focused less upon the darkness of Dol Guldur and more on aiding Elladan and Elrohir in rescuing Celebrian.

Once more, Middle Earth rung with the sound of the elves preparing for war.

The brother's efforts, oft aided by companies of elves snuck into the Empire, turned all for naught in 2727: Sozin caught them a final time and told them that his patience was at an end, and that the next time they entered the Empire he would execute them regardless of their mother's pleas.

They spat at him and attempted to return less than a year later, but were pursued by a small company of the Army of the Sun and tracked by a pair of scout balloons. Sozin, intending to make good on his word, flew out on his personal capital airship, the _Azula_, and cut off the brother's retreat.

Cornered and vastly outnumbered, Elladan and Elrohir readied themselves to sell their lives dearly. Mai, having heard of their plight, rushed to the field on her personal balloon and dueled Sozin, giving the brothers the chance to fight their way free of the company and flee.

Furious, Sozin subdued Mai and demanded her loyalty as both his sister and his subject. When Mai refused, he grew suspicious and began to investigate. He quickly unearthed the activities of Mai and two more of his brothers, as well as one of his own children and quite a few of his nieces and nephews: all of whom had aided the brothers in their attempts to retake Celebrian.

He called a public audience, and sentenced Mai, his brothers, and several of his nephews and his own child to exile. Without a hint of anger or regret, he cast them from their homes.

Legolas convinced his father to harbor most of them, while Mai and her two youngest children went to live with Elrohir in Rivendell.

Elrond took this as the final sign to attack, but Mai confronted him when the Elves of Rivendell mustered and informed him point blank that he would be crushed by the numberless steel cogs of the Empire of the Sun.

Rivendell, while it had a great many powerful elven warriors, did not have anywhere near to the industrial might of the Empire of the Sun. The hosts of the elves, though greatly diminished, were still beyond the arms of mortals if Lorien, Rivendell, and the Woodland Realm were to unite and make a lightning strike upon the seat of the Empire of the Sun, Capital City. But the Empire of the Sun had long surpassed such conventional warfare.

The sheer number of well-armed and armored infantry that the Empire of the Sun could field would easily swamp and slow the Elves, and the unbreakable tanks would overrun any attempts by the Eldar to outflank the slower Men. Add in the Air Force, which by then consisted of several dozen airships and hundreds of war balloons, and all of the Elves remaining in Middle Earth stood zero chance for victory and a good chance of being pursued and burned from the surface of Arda.

For Elrond had no true idea of what war meant where the Empire of the Sun was concerned. Elladan and Elrohir, consumed in their quest to retrieve their mother, failed to impress upon their father the military might of the Army of the Sun and its tank divisions. The elves and men who snuck into and spied upon Capital City only saw a few of the coastal factories and the muster of ground armies, which while impressive gave no indication as to the strength of arms wielded by Sozin. The overflights of airships, while awe-inspiring in and of themselves, did little to indicate the unorthodox and deadly effective style of warfare they employed.

And no one had ever seen Sozin in a killing mood.

Stone-faced, Elrond asked her how she would go about rescuing Celebrian from Sozin, and Mai returned: "You either become like the Empire and industrialize, or you find a way to spirit her away in the night. Either way, you need help; the Dai Li alone number a quarter as much as the elves here and their specialty is espionage."

For a time, Elrond's flinty eyes locked Mai in place as he considered her words. Just as the elves began to grow nervous, for Elrond had been unpredictable of late, he smiled slightly at her, "Your words are wise, daughter-in-law. I believe that we shall do both."

So Elrond broke down his preparations for war. Mai became his counselor, and she showed the elves interchangeable parts, tanks, engineering, flight, and the thousand minutiae of an industrial power. In the east, Legolas had himself long told his father the folly of war against the Empire, and with the aid of his exiled descendants and Elrond's endorsement, he set about teaching the elves of the Woodland Realm what he learned at Azula's side.

Prior, he had been limited to new tactics and countermeasures rather than proper copying of the Empire. He had, in an effort to improve relations between Erebor and his people, taught the dwarves much that he had learned, and now they aided him in building up his people. Further, his own reluctance to reduce the beauty of his Father's Kingdom with heavy industry had weakened his will to teach his people the tools of war.

Galadriel, however, had long known of and encouraged this outcome. Her own Lorien was a realm of beauteous nature, not grand constructs (She told me that her Mirror showed the burning of Lorien by a vengeful Sozin every time she contemplated retrieving her daughter by force). Over the years she had the university books of Gondor, imported from the Empire, brought north by myself or other spies. Laboring ceaselessly, she worked to alter the dirty utility and grinding efficiency of steel and coal industry into a more graceful and sustainable process.

Finally, as Elrond embarked on his own efforts of modernization, Galadriel shared her achievements with her allies. Instead of turning the elven realms into black and grey industrial centers, Galadriel proposed that they create a new environment in which the industry became part of the life there, not a pollutant and destroyer.

She had, she said, learned much in her observations of the Empire of the Sun, in particular she learned from Zin Shu's attempts to beautify the cities of the Empire with plants and through waste management. Zin Shu had focused on removing the waste to areas far from the city, in particular the deserts of Harad, but had failed to observe the life that sprung up around the dumps and sludge lakes.

Further exploration revealed life in the vast vent shafts of the Mountains of Shadow, which released the waste gas from the industry of the orcs in Burzum-Ghâsh in the form of steam and gas. She even found life upon Orodruin, where small pools were home to blooms of tiny plants that thrived in the toxic land.

This was how they would better industry, by using it to fuel new life within their homes.

The end result of Elrond and Galadriel's endeavor was the Rainbow Lakes, through which the gaseous waste of industrial fires were processed into colorful bodies of water and plant life surrounded by the graceful buildings in which the works of war were undertaken.

The Rainbow Lakes existed in all four of the Western Elven Kingdoms, for Elrond enlisted Cirdan's help in designing and building airships and steamships for use against the Empire of the Sun.

Elrond also began to seek allies, for though he no longer planned for open war against the Empire, he would need force of arms to achieve his aim.

His first opportunity to gain major allies came with the War of Dwarves and Orcs in 2793, in which the Dwarves sent a messenger regarding their intention to make war upon the orcs of the Misty Mountains.

Elrond decided that not only was this a wonderful opportunity to kill orcs near his land, but also a good way to gain the good will of the Dwarves. He pledged his aid to the Dwarves and the elves, already long prepared for war, swiftly marched to the aid of the Dwarves.

Mai, having fought in the Siege of Shadow over two hundred years previous, was well acquainted with fighting under mountains. She recommended that the elves copy the strategy of the Torches, which was to build forts high in the mountains from which armies could be supplied by airship and tank in order to deploy deeper into the tunnel systems.

With the aid of the elves, the dwarves finished the war in 2797 with the Battle of Azanulbizar, in which the first elven air ships provided support.

The dwarves, grateful for the aid which kept them from truly grievous losses, bolstered Elrond in building his industry for they too had learned much from the Empire of the Sun, though they refused to enter Lorien to aid Galadriel in her own construction efforts. They were, however, willing to trade their unearthed minerals with the elven kingdoms in return for various products of the rising elven industry.

At the same time, Elrond took up the tattered remains of his sons' efforts and renewed them, creating a spy network that I myself bolstered. His people had paradoxically risen in population over the past three hundred years, for though they began to venture further afield in battle they also became more lively, having families and exploring where they used to remain within Rivendell and while away the days in bliss. He also encouraged the Rangers of the North to industrialize, though they remained largely less populous and instead traded for many of the elven created war machines and construction tools.

In creating the forts within the Misty Mountains, namely upon the High Pass and several more further north near Gundabad, Elrond met with and negotiated a stronger alliance with the Eagles. This became far more relevant as the elves created airships, for the Eagles eagerly taught the elves all that they knew about the skies now that their ancient friends could join them on the winds.

Of similar note is Mai's suggestion to strengthen the bond with the eagles by selling food and weapons to them, though Elrond never went through with it for the eagles were not interested in such things.

Around this time Gondor was once more becoming resurgent, for their strong hold upon Minas Anor and alliance with the Empire of the Sun to the south greatly reduced external threats.

Trade with the Empire gave the Gondorian armies tank divisions, industry, airships, and all manner of exotic trade goods from Far Harad and the Far East. The White Mountains quickly became a source of minerals and coal as the Stewards foresaw the need to develop their own industry, though only a quarter of Gondor's arms were produced within the Kingdom for many centuries.

Osgiliath, abandoned in 2475 after it was sacked by orcs, was rebuilt with the mass of trade that began to flow up the Anduin from the Empire. Its once broken streets and shattered facades grew bright and lively as the threat of Mordor was reduced with each passing year.

Ithilien, heavily damaged by the invasion of the Orcs, became once more a place of great beauty and population with the Morgul Pass secure. The Rangers, however, did not settle. During the Siege of Shadow the cobbled together Rangers grew into a versatile force that was skilled at fighting in tunnels, on mountains, as well as their traditional forests. While their home Ithilien grew happy and prosperous again, they never forgot the threat of Mordor and what it had done.

When the Empire began to expand east, the Rangers asked the Stewards to allow them to participate beyond just reinforcing the Shadow Fire Army under the mountains.

By the time that Elladan and Elrohir were thrown out of the Empire by Sozin, the Rangers had become an expeditionary force that knew no boundaries. Their campaigns in the East had earned them much renown among the People of the Sun, and while the rest of Gondor generally received equipment of lower quality than the top of the line Army of the Sun, the Rangers got the best.

For the next few centuries the Rangers grew into the go-to force for Gondor, especially when they began to build their own airship fleet. Their central ship, an _Azula_-class aircruiser, was gifted to them when their most famous Captain, Siriond, recaptured its damaged frame from an eastern kingdom. Over the years it underwent extensive modifications that turned it into the mobile headquarters of the Rangers, who added several smaller airships and dozens of balloons to their air fleet so that they could deploy anywhere at any time.

The specialized group, which had been formed by the hardy folk who hid and fought against the orc raiders in 2475, became exemplary at the inventive thinking that grew to characterize Gondor in these years.

The Rangers were the first forces to utilize parachutes, which allowed them to fly their airship fleet far above the range of fortresses and cities before dropping soldiers who would disable artillery batteries in preparation for mass landings. They similarly initiated the use of man-portable heavy weapons capable of destroying tanks with sufficient skill; namely, heavy ballista and explosive tipped bolts.

Many of their more famous deployments were in raids of Mordor itself, where they freed slaves and destroyed infrastructure whenever they managed to pierce the hefty artillery defenses and patrolling airship fleet.

They were without a doubt the single most flexible force in Middle-Earth. They fought in the Red Mountains of the Far East, the deserts and jungles of Far Harad, the seas of Belegaer, the plains of Rhovanion, the hills of Rhun, and even the coasts of Enedwaith.

Their deployment to the Enedwaith and Rhovanion came with the advance of Gondor's borders, as the Stewards sought resources that could be traded with the Empire of the Sun and land which would allow Gondor to grow in power and population to match their rapidly expanding neighbor.

The coast and some of the land of the Enedwaith, north up to the old crossing of Tharbad, were slowly claimed by Gondor just as the Rohirrim reinforced their borders.

The Long Winter in 2758 was the only significant challenge faced by Gondor in that period, and then only in terms of aiding their fellow Men. With the vast majority of the north frozen over, isolated and ill-prepared villages faced starvation and freezing temperatures as well as an increase in raiders.

With Elrond's efforts, Eriador was largely free of orcs. A single large band that attempted to raid its way south was defeated by a joint force of Elves and Dunedain. Rhovanion was not so lucky, for Sauron had focused most of his efforts on increasing his hold upon Mirkwood and stretching his hands into the Misty Mountains and Rhun.

Gondor, responding to pleas to aid Rohan when Easterlings and Dunlendings invaded, sent a large fleet of airships and a great force of infantry to crush the invading hosts. After hunting down the raiders, they quickly realized that many of the Rohirrim were starving in their isolated towns.

Supply routes were quickly set up where possible, while villages to remote to be reached by road were instead contacted and aided by the airships of the Kingdom's Air Force.

Realizing that other villages would be facing similar circumstances, the Steward at the time, Beregond, had his scout balloons fly far afield, which allowed for several villages within Eriador and Rhovanion to be reinforced and resupplied by Gondorian soldiers, including many Rangers.

During the War of the Dwarves and Orcs, Beregond joinws in the establishment of the mountain forts but otherwise busied himself with aiding the Rohirrim in eliminating the swarms of goblins that fled south towards the White Mountains.

In 2800, Beregond gathered a great army and marched into Rhovanion, declaring his intention to regain the lost territory of Gondor. A large siege was placed upon the Black Gate, but it was more of a blockade for both sides remained outside of artillery range and never sallied forth.

The army headed East towards Rhun, joined by the King of Rohan Fréaláf, and destroyed many of the cities, though ultimately the force was pushed back when orcs came down from the Mountains of Ash and attempted to flank the Allied Army.

This, however, marked the beginning of a long period of strength for Gondor, as they strengthened their expanded borders and held off any probes by the forces of Sauron. A huge population boom occured, as farming became more productive with reforms pouring from the universities and cheap products being exchanged between widespread Men.

The most significant effect of this period of growth was the bond that developed with the Empire of the Sun, whose people had long been the enemies of the Kingdom. With the massive trade between the two nations of Men, much of that deep seated hatred cooled. Just as importantly, the men of Gondor traveled to the Universities of Capital City and brought back new ideas. Gondor, with its vast libraries and extensive history, quickly caught up with the Empire with regards to education under reforms implemented by the Stewards.

Interestingly, the haphazard nature of this catch-up resulted in the scholars of Gondor gaining an inquisitive and experimental nature, which would eventually result in the development of the scientific method in 2914.

While Gondor grew strong, the Empire of the Sun grew large. Sozin, continuing with his mother's works, settled into steady cycles of construction and expansion. He would invade or incorporate lands on his borders, then spend several decades focusing on building infrastructure in the new lands and on strengthening the economy and infrastructure throughout the rest of the Empire.

Many of the designs started by Azula were refined, with new fleets of sea and air borne ships gaining ever better armaments and design for both war and trade.

The roads of the Empire were slowly expanded into a vast and interconnected network, and the first rails were laid down to facilitate trade and communication with the further flung regions of the Empire.

Several internal rebellions and unrests were quelled, and every attempt by outside forces to invade or raid were hunted down and crushed utterly, often added to the war prisoner system that Azula had started so long ago.

Despite several attempts, Sozin never subdued Mordor, though he forced it on the defensive. The Torches became airbases, from which the many classes of airships and balloons patrolled and raided the Sea of Nurn and the Plateau of Gorgoroth.

Unfortunately, by this time the technological advantage long held by the Empire was slowly disappearing, as Sauron was just as industrious and inventive as the engineers of the Empire.

Sozin's greatest project was the drilling of the Shadow Way, which utilized one of Azula's unimplemented ideas during the Siege of Shadow, a massive drill capable of cutting a hole directly through the Mountains of Shadow.

Nearly two kilometers in length and a hundred meters high, the drill bored a massive highway straight to Burzum-Ghâsh that was paved and reinforced to allow materials and food to flow in and out of the city. Sozin left the drill embedded in the northern side of the undercity, converting it into a massive power source and factory: as well as a dagger pointed right at the heart of Mordor should the need arise.

During one of my audiences with Sozin, I asked him why he did not enter and destroy Mordor immediately, especially considering its proximity to his capital. His reply was that Sauron was not there, and to destroy it now would merely remove the perfect trap for the Dark Lord and force the battle into an unpredictable future.

The rise of Gondor and the Empire of the Sun was mirrored, surprisingly, by the rise of Sauron. With Mordor no longer a viable stronghold, Sauron began to look elsewhere for power. I and the Dai Li did much to track his moves, but Sauron was wily and ancient; he well understood the importance of keeping myself and the Empire in the dark.

Dol Guldur, the most obvious of his strongholds, was hardened and much of Sauron's strength was concentrated within Southern Mirkwood. To all appearances, Sauron had retreated into his forest stronghold and was seeking to amass industrial and military power in a safe haven rather than challenge the Empire of the Sun and Gondor for control of Mordor and the lands of Men.

In truth, Sauron left his remaining three Nazgul to manage his business in the West and personally travelled East, into the lands where the Empire of the Sun still made war.

Here, he found allies, for Azula and Sozin's conquests had driven many before them. Not all accepted the rule of the Sun, and not all of those who fought unceasingly were eliminated. The survivors fled before the advance of the vast mechanical forces mustered by the Empire, warning Eastern Kingdoms and finding refuge where they could.

Azula, in the waning years of her reign, was forced to confront a great alliance mustered by the Men of the Plains at the southern feet of the Orocarni, the Red Mountains. It was a hard-won victory for the Empire, and for the next hundred years the area was a hotbed for conflict. This alliance was organized primarily by the deposed enemies of Azula, yet these men did not all die. They simply moved further East and began to build their own kingdoms and empires.

During Sozin's reign, the vast airfleets he built and the advent of railways allowed him to travel further East then ever, crushing all who resisted him. He himself traveled all across the Empire of the Sun in his personal airship _Azula_. The enemies of the Empire were mercilessly hunted down, but there was a foe they could not defeat.

The Shiuxing Kingdom, long established as a center of trade in the far East, adopted the Empire of the Sun's industry with great enthusiasm. As their western neighbors fell to Sozin, the Kingdom learned from the failed defenses and quickly began to acquire their own conquered realms, hoping to meet Sozin with force.

The clash between the two nations occured in 2812, and was the first significant defeat of the Empire of the Sun. Sauron personally infiltrated the Shiuxing Kingdom and augmented their industry, applying all that he had learned and developed to give them equipment almost on par with the Empire.

There, in the far East, Sauron built his true strongholds. Repeated assaults by the Empire of the Sun were driven back, for without a sea route they could only rely on the Army and Air Force of the Sun, which was not sufficient to destroy the heavily industrialized and entrenched Kingdom.

Great air battles, the likes of which had not been seen since the War of Wrath, rained fire and steel upon the armies vying for control below. Fortresses and redoubts, dug into the rock of the earth and armed with truly incredible siege engines, shot down aerial battlecruisers that themselves fired ship-grade catapults and ballistae.

After the initial rebuttal, the Empire of the Sun scaled back its assaults and instead built its own lands in the East up, hoping to match the Shiuxing Kingdom with local industry to supplement what was sent east by rail from the rest of the Empire.

Little word of these incredible wars reached the West, beyond knowledge of the Empire's consistent output of war material and frequent victory celebrations. I myself learned most of this from correspondence with Pallando, who was unsure whether to aid or abet the Empire of the Sun in it's endeavors.

This general stalemate continued on into T.A 2980, for Elrond and the Elves were slow to industrialize, preferring to master the art and make it something worthwhile, not simply a dirty production of war-material. I myself participated in the Battle of Six Armies on the slopes of Erebor and viewed the agreement between the Men of Dale and Gondor for mutual defense.

In 2980, however, the concealed tension exploded at the actions of Aragorn, son of Arathorn.

Aragorn had chosen to take up the name Thorongil in order to travel the world, serving in the armies of Rohan, Gondor, and even the Empire of the Sun. He reached far into the East, facing the Shiuxing Kingdom in battle alongside the Rangers of Ithillien, and travelling South with the Navy of the Sun.

He was, however, an adopted son of Elrond. And as any son, he loved and respected his father. When he finally met Celebrian, who personally bestowed upon him honors for a great victory against the Shiuxing Kingdom, he realized that he had the chance to achieve what Elrond had long wished for.

Alone, and without support, he stole into the newly constructed Imperial Tower, the tallest skyscraper at the center of Capital City. The building, constructed to be the central administrative headquarters of the Empire of the Sun and Sozin's personal home, was heavily guarded and Celebrian's room near the flame-like peak, over four hundred meters above the sea, was impossible to sneak into.

However, the personal seat of Emperor Sozin had a single great weakness: sunlight.

Capital City, in 2950, saw its first skyscraper with the advent of reinforced concrete foundations and steel i-beam construction. With the truly incredible production capacity of the Empire, an architect proposed that the highly valuable land of Capital City be made denser by building steel frame buildings over a hundred meters tall.

Sozin, ever ambitious and grandiose, took the idea and asked the architect to build a single demostration building. This first skyscraper, the Kurwan building, was 121 meters tall. With the successful and under-budget completion of the largest free standing tower since the Second Age, Sozin outlined a plan to organize a skyline for Capital City shaped like a traditional Empire sweeping roof, crowned by his own personal skyscraper.

Further, he planned to line the buildings with glass and place them such that the light of the sun was reflected inward until it gathered at the central tower, focusing upon the highest roof which was to be shaped like a flame.

For thirty years development of this skyline picked up steam, as companies and wealthy families from across the Empire bid for positions of honor within the skyline. The four corner buildings, each 250-260 meters tall, were representative of the entire Empire, for each emphasized different architectural designs and philosophies, yet conformed to Sozin's great vision and reflected sunlight deeper into Capital City.

By the time which Aragorn resolved himself to freeing Celebrian, roughly half of the skyscrapers had been constructed and the Imperial Tower was brightly lit all day.

Sozin, however, had a particular love for sunsets over the ocean. This had resulted in special attention being payed to the direction of light at the end of the day. As the sun set, the flame at the peak of his building burned blinding shades of red, orange, and gold as the sun sank below the ocean.

Aragorn used this time, when no one from the outside could perceive him past the blinding rays of the sunset, and when everyone inside avoided the hot windows and the steam arrays that cooled them, to sneak up the face of the tower.

Braving hundreds of degrees of heat and blinding light, Aragorn donned a heavy, fire-proof protective suit and scaled the Imperial Tower. Cutting his way through the window outside Celebrian's room, he rushed in as she retired to the penthouse for the night. From a pack he gave her her own protective suit and a parachute, and the two jumped from the building.

His plan, only just reaching Elrond, sent the elves into a flurry of preparation. Several times people had come close to freeing Celebrian, but never before with so little warning or planning.

Curiously, it was the spontaneous and isolated nature of Aragorn's plan that allowed him to succeed, for the Dai Li were caught completely off guard. Using the subway and various roads, he made it outside of the city. He was helped in particular by the fire that broke out in the top of the Imperial Tower, for without the reflective coating upon the window to divert the massed rays, the inside of the tower was set alight.

Sozin personally rushed into the tower and subdued the flames, frantically searching for Celebrian. When he realized that she had been kidnapped after an investigator discovered the hole in the wall of the tower, Sozin locked down the city and sent out search parties.

Aragorn, in the guise of Thorongil once more, volunteered to lead one of the external search parties.

Sneaking Celebrian into the uniform of a female Home Guard that he had trapped within his apartment, Aragorn kept up appearances until he approached a fort north of Capital City. Ordering his lieutenant to take over the search, he pretended to be inspecting an assault airship being sent to Gondor. He cleared the ship for takeoff, then slipped Celebrian aboard and snuck into the cargo bay.

The spies of the Elven Lords, receiving hurried orders from Elrond, immediately set about causing mass chaos and implementing their own long prepared escape plans.

By the time his disappearance was noticed, which took hours for he had left conflicting orders with the men of the fort, Aragorn had already reached the border of Gondor. Border patrols attempted to detain the airship, but Aragorn hijacked it and flew into Gondor. Pursuit forced him to land within a military post of Gondor, which was quickly surrounded by the Army of the Sun at Sozin's command.

The Gondorian Captain of the post refused to allow anyone from the Army to enter, though he did detain Aragorn and Celebrian at the request of the commander of the airship squadron which had pursued Aragorn from Capital City.

The Steward of Gondor at the time, Ecthelion II, flew south and came to the encircled camp at the same time as Sozin arrived, demanding that the Army of the Sun leave Gondor's territory. Sozin replied that a servant of the Shadow, who's spies had long hounded him, had kidnapped his wife and fled to the fortress for political asylum.

Ecthelion, recognizing just what was happening, told Sozin to back off and that he would personally see to it that 'Ursa' was returned safely home. Sozin also realized that Ecthelion knew the truth and refused to leave.

Ecthelion's knowledge was a result of Elrond's repeated efforts to pressure the Stewards of Gondor into aiding him in the rescue of his wife. Only a few of the top nobles in the country and the Steward himself knew the Empress of the Sun's true identity, but they had long been reluctant to openly challenge Sozin with the fact. Even Ecthelion, who successfully sought to build Gondor's own industry and national power and decrease the Kingdom's dependence on the Empire of the Sun for military and construction materials, refused to bring the issue into national circles for fear of instigating a terrible war that Gondor could not win.

But this opportunity, if Ecthelion managed to delay Sozin, would enable Elrond to finally rescue his wife. Ecthelion was an honorable and good man, and resolved to aid Elrond in his endeavor.

So Gondor's and the Empire of the Sun's militaries faced off, with Aragorn and Celebrian in the center.

Into this explosive situation, Elrond led a fleet of Elven airships and war balloons, utilizing his ring to conceal their arrival and speed their maneuvers.

The onset of battle was sudden, with the Elves of Lorien, the Woodland Realm, and Rivendell descending from extremely high altitudes to land a transport in the Gondorian Fort and grab Celebrian before retreating.

The maneuver was successful, thanks in large part to the fact that both the Gondorian and Imperial Air Force were behind the lines of the watchful regiments on the ground. Sozin, the first to pierce the enchantments of the Elves, led his Air Force in a charge which arrowed straight for the formation of smaller Elven airships.

The resulting battle spread quickly across the sky, for the Elven airships only held position for a moment before scattering along with the ship which contained Celebrian and Aragorn. Using superior altitude caps and speed, the Elves stayed ahead of the better armored pursuit, particularly the massive capital aircruisers which powered over the border.

Ecthelion, alarmed at the sudden outbreak of warfare within the borders of his land, ordered his troops to hold position and repel any attempt by the Army of the Sun to follow the Elves north. Already, the furious exchange of artillery in the skies above had instigated combat between tense and close companies of Gondorians and Anorians, as the Descendants of Numenor named the peoples of the Empire of the Sun.

The air force of Gondor, confused by the sudden appearance of new trespassers, initially opened fire on both the Empire and the Elves, but orders from Ecthelion halted their targeting of the combatants; instead, Ecthelion had his air force shadow the skirmishing airships, warning away anyone who could get caught in the crossfire and ensuring that the battle did not scatter across Gondor.

Sozin's new airship, _Agni_, was a _Fire Dragon-_class aircruiser, the largest class of capital airship in existence. As a result, it was not as fast as the Elven ships and Air Force of the Sun assault airships and balloons, until Sozin took up position on the rear of his Ship and blasted two massive plumes of fire, propelling the ship at thrice its usual speed and catching up to the central group of the elves, which headed directly for the White Mountains.

Escorted by a hastily assembled amalgam of Elven air forces, Celebrian's airship captain hoped to fly over the White Mountains, which were to high for any but scout balloons or other Elven airships to traverse. Harried by doggedly following assault airships, in particular the tough Warpig class assault ships, the Elves we're unable to scatter away from the closing Agni and its escorts.

Elrond, however, had been waiting for this.

In the skies over the Anduin, Elrond's task force of airships, more heavily armed and armored than any of their brethren, dueled with Sozin's fleet. An assault ship flown by Glorfindel rammed into the engine of the _Agni_, crushing it and forcing the massive airship to the ground. Sozin, giving up on his ship in favor of pursuing Celebrian, leapt from the back of the cruiser and flew on blasts of fire. Again, Elrond was prepared for this. His personally assault balloon, the fastest balloon ever built, charged Sozin head on.

Sozin's reply, a blast of fire from his mouth, was diverted by the protection of Elrond's ring Vilya, the Ring of Air. With his own power bolstered by the protection and wind nature of his ring, Elrond set about delaying Sozin. The incredible blasts of fire thrown by Sozin rained through the sky, consuming entire airships and devastating villages the two passed over. Elrond replied with a Mithril ballista, also boosted in strength by Elven magic and crafting skill.

For all of Elrond's skill and power, however, Sozin had honed his firebending through five hundred year of training and warfare. Where fire failed, lightning crackled across the surface of Elrond's armored balloon. When Elrond dove into the aerial melee to avoid the lightning, Sozin used thin lances of fire to cut his way through any Elven airship that obstructed him. The arrival of the Eagles, who had grown a great kinship with the airship crews they had taught, threw the melee into further disarray. Gwaihir did his best to harry Sozin, but was driven back by fire and lightning.

However, within the melee Sozin's back was open.

Legolas, most renowned archer in the world, took advantage with the compond recurve bow given to him by Azula before her death. Azula's knowledge of the body was so great that even without utilizing her Chi-blocking, she could deliver sufficient force to cave a man's chest in. Legolas learned from her in their many fights, and refined his archery to the point where he could fire further, faster, and more accurately than any archer who had ever lived.

Spying his son blasting dozens of elves into oblivion, he climbed to the top of the Warpig assault ship he had boarded. Reaching the prow, he turned and with a single, long, glance, perceived the burning and torn airships skirmishing far and wide over Gondor. (He has only once discussed the Battle of Skyfire, and my description hardly does justice to how he described the moment). Woodland, Lorien, and Rivendell elves fought and died in the sky, succumbing to the heavier firepower of the Empire airships. Anoredain, as he himself had named the people of Azula's nation, burned and fell as their ships succumbed to the nimble Elven craft or powered on, in flames but refusing to fail their Emperor.

His attention fell upon his son, who roared flames as he hunted Elrond. With a single, swift shot he felled Sozin as he flew nearby. It was not, however, a fatal shot.

Sozin's surprise drove him spiraling through the air, as he spasmed from the pain of the arrow embedded in his side. His fire cut out, and he crashed into the Warpig that Legolas stood upon. Clawing his way onto the flat weapons platform at the top of the airship, he yanked the arrow out and cauterized the wound.

Seeing Legolas watching, Sozin realized what had transpired and laughed, "So you fight to take her from me too, Father." Standing, he searched for Elrond's distinctive gold and blue assault balloon. He found Elrond circling around them, reluctant to engage Sozin in front of Legolas. Without turning away from his prey, he spoke. "Tell me, Father, did you ever love Mother? I have always wondered whether she died thinking you hated her or whether she died thinking you loved her.

Receiving no reply, Sozin shook his head and leaped into the air, aiming for Elrond.

Stiff from the arrow and unable to breath properly, the most important tenant of firebending, Sozin's renewed duel with Elrond was far more even. No longer could he overpower the protection of Vilya with lightning, and no longer could he unleash apocalyptic blasts of fire rapidly. In the time which the two dueled, the Elven force crossed the White Mountains and the Empire airships headed East, forced to go around the mountain range.

Elrond, however, refused to run. He had vowed to take Sozin's head, and he meant to do so. A single shot, arced through a fireblast launched by Sozin, pierced Sozin's breast and felled the Emperor of the Sun instantly. Elrond flew back over the mountains and the Empire of the Sun retreated, carrying the body of their fallen Emperor.

Ecthelion was angered at both sides, for his lands were covered in the burning wrecks of airships and his people had been sent fleeing for shelter for a hundred mile wide swathe leading to the White Mountains. In order to curb Gondorian calls for retaliation, he informed the people of Celebrian's capture and forced marriage, which turned national sentiment against pursuing the Elves north and instead towards cutting ties with the dishonorable Empire of the Sun.

The Empire of the Sun, bereft of the Emperor that had lead them strongly for nearly four hundred years, clamored for Zin Shu, universally popular, to take the throne and strike out against these elves for slaying the long-thought invincible Sozin. Zin Shu, however, would have none of it. Unbeknownst to the masses, he had intercepted orders to deploy the vast aerial patrols around the Mountains of Shadow to block off the retreating elves. Feeling immensely guilty at his brother's death, Zin Shu refused to accept the position.

Instead, Sozin's eldest, Maedhros, took up his father's post as Emperor. Many within the Empire were dissatisfied with their new Emperor, for it had been well over two hundred years since Maedhros last served as a Captain in the military and his job as a merchant of Great Zûbar was considered to far removed from the heart of the Empire for him to have sufficient skill to manage the vast holdings.

Even worse, during the confusion directly following Sozin's death, several armies and air fleets were shifted West, which provided an opening for Shiuxing to attack the Eastern Provinces in a massive push.

Maedhros managed to turn the focus of his people's anger upon Shiuxing, but the skyscraper project in Capital City, as well as numerous other public works throughout the Empire of the Sun, were put on hold as he attempted to organize the widespread unrest and sudden assault and counteract the universal weakening of the Empire's position

The Elves, though they took heavy casualties, were ecstatic with their success. The design of airships and the invention of parachutes meant that many of the crews of destroyed or grounded airships survived, though injured and stranded within Gondor. Elrond personally negotiated for their release with Ecthelion after he ensured the safety of his wife. He also gifted mithril claw guards and thin armor plating to Gwaihir, as well as promising aid should the Eagles require it.

Two airships filled with the greatest tools of war crafted by the elves were also sent to the Dwarves, for though they did not participate in the battle they did travel to the Elven cities, preparing to dig in should Sozin pursue the elves to their homes.

Thus, the alliance of Gondor and the Empire of the Sun, long a bulwark against Sauron, was broken and turned into a potential conflict. Even worse, with many of the powerful people of the Empire opposed to Maedhros' position, discord began to split the political landscape.

Of interest to me, however, is Sozin's youngest, Illah. Illah was six years old during the Battle of Skyfire. Maedhros, at the behest of Zin Shu, allowed the remaining elves kidnapped by Sozin to leave the Empire. One of them had lived in Elrond's house, and through communication with Celebrian attained permission to take young Illah to live with her mother in Rivendell.

Illah had been Sozin's favorite. Her features had been extremely close to her grandmother Azula, and her attitude was similar, if more prone to self-righteousness, to both her father and grandmother. She spent much time with her father in Capital City, even traveling with him in _Agni_ when she was four and cutting the ribbon of the Imperial Tower when it was opened.

The decision was made not to tell Illah that Elrond had personally slain Sozin, and so she spent most of her youth mourning her father but relatively happy. Today, she is still unaware that Elrond slew her father, though she knows that her adoptive and birth father fought over her mother. I personally disapprove of the deception, for I see only conflict in the future.

However, I also see the potential for resolution: many of the factions who oppose Maedhros clamor for Illah to be returned home so that she can take the throne from Maedhros after being "properly raised without the interference of those inhuman thieves."

It is my hope that I can get Illah placed upon the throne of the Empire of the Sun before it fractures, and that her love for Rivendell, her new home, will encourage peaceful relations in the West.

Because Sauron has taken great advantage of the discord.

* * *

A/N: So, I read the Silmarillion and a couple Naruto fanfictions like Dreaming of Sunshine where the self-insert dies and is reborn within the world of Naruto. I played around with having Azula born into the Naruto world, but after reading the Silmarillion and its almost history-esque mythological style just had to shove Azula into Middle-Earth and show how much she would change that entire world.

I also got a kick out of the idea of Azula turning into a husband-taking conqueror and lording it over Legolas.

My idea for half-elf firebenders basically places them somewhere around Sozin's comet level firebending, which is why Sozin could take on an army and win.


End file.
